Made in Croatia

Renewable Energy Startup Attracts Foreign Investors

By 29 December 2016

Another attempt to increase share of renewable energy sources in Croatia.

Aware that the share of renewable energy sources in Croatia is very low and that Croatia could be hit by penalties from the European Union if it does not substantially increase it by 2020, Mario Marić, Nikolina Hojsak and Kaja Pavlinić formed Tinja, reports Poslovni.hr on December 29, 2016.

Tinja is an online platform to easily and efficiently connect installers of solar panels and interested users. According to Pavlinić, the goal of the platform is to encourage the use of renewable energy sources, especially solar energy. Their startup is part of the tenth generation of the Zagreb Entrepreneurship Incubator.

“The idea is to facilitate the process of installing solar panels, and the platform allows users to enter basic information about their houses and to immediately receive a rough estimate about the viability of installation of solar panels, along with information how long it would take for them to return their investment. In the next phase, we collect offers from companies which are located in the users’ area and we provide them with an overview of bids. The user can select the best offer and this allows for greater competition in the market and reduces costs of installation of solar panels. We also encourage foreign investments in Croatia, since investors can use our platform to open a map and see information for each town about the average number of hours of sunshine per year, about available subsidies and the number of installers of solar panels”, said Pavlinić.

In addition to the three members from Croatia, the team is also helped by Mihajlo Anđelić from Serbia, Peter Lunt from the United Kingdom and Arthur Imbert from France.

“In the coming months, the goal is to successfully complete the programme of the Zagreb Entrepreneurship Incubator, conclude negotiations with as many companies as possible, and completely develop the platform. Its main advantage is that it saves time and money, and the platform is characterized by the ease of use, which makes the concept of solar panels approachable even for those who do not have any previous knowledge about it”, concluded Pavlinić.

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