It’s not important who is in which ministry, but rather how well the sectors collaborate and whether they are equipped to solve problems. This is the essence of the reactions from stakeholders in the energy market regarding the decision to split the former Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development into two departments. The story was prepared by journalist Vedran Marjanović.
Read on to find out how RESC commented on this decision for Jutarnji list.
What Effect Does the Croatian Renewable Energy Association Expect from the Separation of the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Green Transition on Energy Investments in Renewable Production, and Can Such an Organization of Government Departments Contribute to Accelerating Investments that All Stakeholders Advocate?
We welcome the name of the new Ministry of Environmental Protection and Green Transition, recognizing the importance of the green transition as a key strategic determinant that, we believe, will transform and accelerate the development of renewable energy sources (RES) in Croatia. However, in the description of the scope and work of the new ministry, we did not see how the green transition would be implemented, but we believe that these aspects will be detailed in the future Regulation on the Internal Organization of this ministry.
We should note that according to the revised EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED III), which came into force on October 20, 2023, due to the need to accelerate the transition to clean energy until climate neutrality is achieved, member states ensure that renewable energy plants and their associated infrastructure become of overriding public interest and serve public health and safety. The deadline for transposing the directive into national legislation is 18 months, but some parts related to permitting renewable energy production facilities will come into force as early as July 2024. We expect that the procedures for environmental impact assessment (EIA) and screening for environmental impact assessment (SEIA) will significantly accelerate.
Currently, Croatia is the third-worst country in the EU regarding the complexity of issuing permits for RES projects, which is a significant obstacle to the faster development of this sector. For example, EIA procedures, which are prescribed to take four months (exceptionally can be extended by another two months), actually take two years in practice, and often longer. SEIA procedures should be completed within two months, but actually last on average 10 to 12 months, often longer.
We hope that the outdated regulation from 2017, which determines the interventions for which EIA and SEIA procedures are conducted, will finally change and thus accelerate and simplify administrative procedures. Also, the same regulation does not recognize the advantages of RES over those from fossil and other non-renewable energy sources, and in some cases even puts them at a disadvantage. For illustration, we mention the example of standalone solar power plants, wind farms, or hydroelectric plants, with a capacity of up to 10 MW, for which SEIA must be conducted, while for fossil fuel or solid fuel power plants of the same capacity, SEIA is not required.
We also hope to increase the administrative capacities of both ministries (Ministry of Economy and Ministry of Environmental Protection and Green Transition) to more effectively deal with these challenges and improve synergy between them, as well as with other ministries and institutions. We believe that it is not important who is at which address, but how they collaborate. Such a way of working, based on coordinated efforts towards achieving common goals, would contribute to the faster, more efficient, and simpler realization of RES projects with the aim of promoting sustainable development in Croatia, which implies responsibility towards the environment.
