As part of the European Union, Croatia aims to become one of many European countries to become climate neutral by 2050. Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic announced the country has obtained up to €9bn worth of funding from the EU’s multiannual financial framework to help Croatia achieve the target. Currently, the largest source of renewable energy in Croatia is hydropower while solar and wind lag behind. Including this goal, Croatia also aims to increase the amount of electricity generated from clean energy sources from 28% to over 36% in 2030 and 66% by 2050. In order to do so, Croatia will need to tap into the vast solar resources available with the solar potential estimated at 6.8GW. Solar accounts for only 0.4% of electricity whereas other European countries have 4% on average. In March 2021, only 100MW of solar energy was installed, and to catch up with the EU average, a further GW was required. Therefore, Croatia presents an attractive proposition for potential investors in solar energy.
1) Enlight Renewable Energy (Israel)
The Israeli developer of wind and solar energy entered the Croatian wind market in July 2022 with the acquisition of a 386MW project. The project was part of large-scale wind and solar portfolio with a combined installed capacity in the excess of 525MW. The projects will undergo construction in 2023 and will be completed by 2025. The 525MW portfolio will be in addition to Enlight’s already vast portfolio of projects located around the Balkan Islands as they have an installed capacity of 1.2GW in projects located in Kosovo, Serbia, Croatia, and Hungary.
2) Convex Invest (Austria)
The Austrian investment group announced plans to tap into Croatia’s vast solar potential through a €75.6m acquisition of a 60MW Croatian solar farm. The Solar farm, named MVES 60 is located in Sisak-Moslavina and will be developed by Microstar, a Croatian-based construction firm. The solar park consists of 207,300 PV panels and is located on a 65-hectare land site.
3) Acciona (Spain)
The Spanish renewable energy giants were the first 100% renewable energy corporation according to Energy Intelligence and have become industry experts in solar and wind development. The Madrid-based group have acquired a portfolio in the excess of 11GW spread across 11 continents and as part of an acceleration in their plan, Acciona aims to acquire a further 17GW by 2025 and a further 33GW by 2030. In March 2022, the group announced plans to invest in another Croatian solar park which will be in the region of €99m. The investment will be used to develop a 150MW solar park located in Sibenik-Knin county. The 150MW Promina solar farm will be the largest solar farm to be developed in Croatia to date. In addition to Promina project, Acciona will invest a further €106m in two wind farms which will have a total installed capacity of 72MW. The numerous investments led by the Spanish group put the company as one of the key drivers behind Croatia’s green energy transition.
Image Source Unsplash 21.11.2022
