The Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development in Croatia, Tomislav Ćorić has confirmed his government’s plans to launch a large scale renewable energy auction, primarily for solar PV and wind energy technologies. He did not offer any timeline for the auction.
Speaking during an interaction with journalists, the minister of the European country said while designing the auction rules, administration will ensure that only 1 or 2 projects don’t get to hog the entire 400 MW quota. Projects holding location permits will be allowed to apply.
The minister pointed out at the growing interest in renewables owing to falling prices for these technologies which goes on to guarantee feasibility of such projects.
In August 2020, Croatia launched a renewable energy auction for 88 MW capacity including 50 MW solar, capping bids at €0.084 per kWh (see Renewable Energy Auction Announced in Croatia). According to Balkan Green Energy News, results of the 88 MW tender were announced in January 2021 when only 25.5 MW capacity was selected for premiums and feed-in-tariffs (FIT) among all eligible small-scale renewables projects. Solar power plants with 13.4 MW capacity secured the largest share followed by 7.7 MW of biogas.
Under the country’s EU National Energy and Climate Plan for 2030, which contains the EU member states plans to meet the EU 2030 climate goals, Croatia targets to grow the share of renewable energy capacity in its total energy mix to 36.4%. In May 2020, it announced plans to tender 2,265 MW renewable energy and cogeneration capacity with over 1 GW reserved for solar power plants (see Croatia Plans 1 GW Solar PV Tender Scheme).
In addition, it has plans to develop 300 MW of PV capacity for prosumers by 2030, which according to the SolarPower Europe’s (SPE) EU Market Outlook for Solar Power 2020-2024 is promising if a framework can be set for active customers and renewable energy communities. The SPE report claims the cumulative installed capacity of Croatia till the end of 2020 reached 166 MW.
