Although in almost all statistics Croatia is at the top of the EU in the use of RES, very few energy projects have been developed in ten years.
Do we realize it by the end of 2023? the modest 100 MW of new capacity of renewable energy sources in 2018, and it will mostly be solar, we can be too satisfied, warned the Association of Renewable Energy Sources of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (OIE HGK) at yesterday’s press conference. They called for the urgent adoption of the Lex OIE, which would consolidate in one place all the regulations for investing in renewable energy sources, as well as the formation of a Working Group, following the example of the steps just taken after the three-year halt in reconstruction due to the earthquake, which would expeditiously deal with all incoming requests.
216 requests received
For this reason, a Position Paper was created and presented yesterday, which lists the most significant obstacles in the administrative procedures for the preparation and development of RES projects. The obstacles listed as the most important are the legislative framework, inconsistency of regulations, connection to the electric power grid, spatial planning and impact on the environment and nature.
As the key reason for the additional slowdown in the development of the sector, they cite the failure to pass a large number of by-laws into laws. The regulation defining the method of granting an energy permit (EO), as the first and most important document for initiating the development of an RES project, the rules on connection to the transmission network, the rules on connection to the distribution network, network rules and the fee for connection to the power network are secondary legal acts whose adoption is delayed from 155 to 430 days, according to HGK. Although due to the significant share of electricity we get from old hydroelectric power plants, as well as the significant share of citizens who use wood/biomass for heating, Croatia is in almost all statistics at the top of the EU in terms of the use of renewable energy sources, the fact is that in the last ten years it has developed a very few energy projects. This is especially worrying due to the deadlines and money that the EU has put at our disposal through its Resilience and Reconstruction program and where Croatia could be left without hundreds of millions of euros in grants. In particular, as they pointed out from the RES HGK, for the RES support program 2021-2023. 216 requests for capacities of as much as 6,000 MW were received, and only 69 requests were processed, of which 36 were positive. Even though the Association is aware that a large part of the submitted requests are unrealistic and incomplete, they still believe that at least 2,000 MW of them could and should be resolved and approved. Especially for this reason, EUR 783 million was provided from EU funds.
Alarming situation
As explained by the deputy president of the Association of RES HGK, the creation of this document was prompted by the alarming stagnation of investments in the production of green energy caused by the incomplete legal framework, as well as the years-long neglect of this extremely important economic sector.
“The energy crisis requires urgent action to accelerate the introduction of renewable energy sources. In the last year, intensive work has been done at the EU level to reduce long-term and complex administrative procedures that are an obstacle to rapid and extensive investment in renewable energy sources and related infrastructure, and we in Croatia do not yet have the necessary regulations to be able to invest at all. All projects have been stopped because there are no necessary regulations”, he said.