The three-day international conference Renewable Energy Days (RES Days) has been opened.
The cost of the fee for connecting to the power grid will be known by July at the latest, and by 2030, Croatia will have around 10.5 GW of total electricity production capacity, of which 8 GW will be renewable.
This is just one of the updates revealed at the Renewable Energy Days (RES Days), held from June 12 to 14 in Pula, where the organizers, Renewable Energy Sources of Croatia (RESC), gathered over 400 experts.
Public policies in the renewable energy sector were the theme of the first day of the Renewable Energy Days. Before taking the moderator’s chair, RESC Managing Director Maja Pokrovac highlighted that every meeting in the energy sector is an opportunity for learning and growth.
“It is very important that the industry takes on a new form because the green transition not only enables progress in terms of clean energy but also creates jobs for highly educated young people and fosters regional development,” said Maja Pokrovac.
This sentiment was echoed by the Deputy Prefect of Istria County, Tulio Demetlika, who said that his county is working on a new spatial plan with energy at the forefront.
“We are working on a new Istrian Y in an energy sense. We plan to connect 400 MW of solar power, but since the sun is not always available, we have also planned 150 MW of battery storage, which will be very useful in the summer when we have 600,000 tourists, and our network is at maximum overload, risking a ‘blackout,'” Demetlika explained, adding that Istria County aims to be autonomous in terms of electricity and hopes that the mentioned batteries will be operational in ten years.
Istrians need not worry about network overload, emphasized State Secretary in the Ministry of Economy Ivo Milatić, saying that changes to the Spatial Planning Act will define the exact routes of power lines, and by 2030, “we will know where the wires are going.” By 2030, out of the 10.5 GW total electricity production capacity, 8 GW will be renewable. Milatić also explained the revision of the National Energy and Climate Plan, which the European Union declared “unambitious.”
“It is true that the first draft of the Plan was not very happy, and I take responsibility for not getting involved earlier. We are working on it now, and it will be entirely different. By 2030, we plan to connect 2 GW of wind energy, 319 MW of geothermal, and 4 GW of solar energy to the grid, and I am confident that number will be even higher,” Milatić said, adding that biogas and biomass remain at the levels initially submitted in the Plan. The state secretary also highlighted that the Croatian Energy Regulatory Agency (HERA) will finally announce the cost of the connection fee by July at the latest, potentially activating one billion euros worth of renewable energy projects that have been waiting for this decision from HERA for two and a half years.
Tugomir Majdak, State Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, said the state is considering the possibility of installing agro-solar systems on agricultural areas with permanent crops and highlighted that much has been done to enable investors to build agro-solars without location and building permits.
“If a solar power plant is up to 10 MW, it can be built without a building permit, along with the main project, which was allowed by amending the Regulation on Simple Buildings,” noted Tonči Glavinić, acting director of the Directorate for Post-Earthquake Reconstruction at the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Construction, and State Property.
Regarding floating solar and wind power plants, for which OIEH has already mapped the Adriatic, they may not come soon, said Bojan Linardić, Director of the Institute for Spatial Development at the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Construction, and State Property.
“The creation of a special plan, the Spatial Plan of the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Republic of Croatia, has begun, and it is obligatory to adopt it within two to three years. Renewable energy sources are currently not included because they are not in the 2017 Spatial Development Strategy, so they cannot be in the spatial planning document. Expert bases are needed; feasibility, possibility, impact of such projects, and then with reasoned bases, we can start drafting and supplementing the documents,” said Linardić.
Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO of SolarPower Europe, congratulated Croatia on its “solar year” because last year, solar installations increased by 250% compared to the previous year. She also expressed concern that only 2-3% of panels are currently manufactured in Europe, while Giles Dickson, CEO of WindEurope, was not satisfied with the fact that administrative hurdles still hinder the development of renewable energy sources in Croatia. “Twenty percent of the electricity consumed in Europe comes from wind, and by 2030, it should be 42.5%. How can we achieve this when it takes so much paperwork just to get one of the three permits needed for a wind farm,” Dickson illustrated, showing a photo of around 50 binders of documents.
Samanta Barić, Head of the Department for Urbanism, Investments, and Development Projects of the City of Pula, said that Croatia is ranked 13th in Europe for wind energy use and 24th for solar energy. Pula recognizes its potential and is working on implementing numerous projects.
On Thursday, the second day of the conference, panel discussions will cover the solarization of Croatia, the future prospects of wind power in the country, simplifying grid connection rules, and the challenges facing geothermal energy.
16°C
Izbor urednika
Podržavaju nas
