ZAGREB, April 11, 2019 - The energy sector can be the driver of Croatia's investment development, so it is important to have a good energy strategy, the head of the Energy and Environmental Protection Division at the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK), Marija Šćulac Domac, said on the occasion of the Energy Democracy Summit, the HGK said in a statement on Thursday.

The summit is taking place in the northern coastal city of Pula from 10 to 12 April and has brought together over 400 participants from 14 countries.

The idea of energy democracy implies the highest level of responsibility for the future of the planet through energy policies, technological development, international and regional cooperation, and vision, the statement said.

"The energy transition on which we are embarking is not just an energy and economic issue, but also a major social and political issue. The importance of energy for economic activity and growth is unquestionable. It is to be expected that the energy sector will be the main driver of Croatia's investment development with a series of projects that will come not just from public companies but also from the private sector. That's why it is very important to have a good energy strategy," Šćulac Domac said.

Ortal Elbaz, Consul at the Israeli Embassy in Croatia, said that her country, which is the partner country of the energy summit, had once been an energy importer and the situation had changed after the discovery of natural gas sources in the Mediterranean.

The summit will discuss the wider regional context of the complexity of the energy sector and supply security, with emphasis on the priorities of Croatia's energy policy by 2030. Among the key issues are the institutional framework in the energy sector, the implementation of short-term sectoral measures aimed at encouraging growth, the launch of medium- and long-term measures in specific energy subsectors, and the promotion of the advanced energy network.

More energy news can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, April 8, 2019 - Croatia's HEP national electricity provider on Monday presented a new investment cycle in solar power plants valued at 750 million kuna with the first investments to be made in the Kaštelir, Cres, Vis and Vrlika Jug plants with a total power of 11.6 megawatts (MW) and a value of 80 million kuna.

HEP management board chair Frane Barbarić said that under the big investment scheme the company would invest 750 million kuna by 2023 or 150 million kuna a year for that purpose.

Of the four above-mentioned facilities, the Sabadin plant, which will now be renamed to Kaštelir has been already purchased from the former owner.

Barbaić said that it is expected that by 2030 the power plants will produce 350 MW, which is seven times more than the power currently produced by all the solar power plants in Croatia.

He added that HEP has launched a strong investment cycle in renewable energy sources and that in addition to solar plants, investments will be made in hydro-electricity power plants, wind farms and other renewables. Thus, HEP plans to start building its first wind farm this year.

Barbarić mentioned that HEP's plan to construct solar power plants on the tops of its buildings with a power of 2.1 MW, a project estimated to cost 13 million kuna.

Environment and Energy Minister Tomislav Ćorić said that the main focus of Croatia's Energy Strategy by 2030 is renewable energy sources.

We have huge energy potential from the sun and wind, Ćorić said and added that this year the ministry will subsidise "solar plants" on household roofs. This is a good investment and proof that Croatia is concerned with environment protection, he added.

More energy news can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, January 30, 2019 - Environment and Energy Minister Tomislav Ćorić said on Tuesday that in the next 30 years Croatia could become self-sufficient in electricity production and eventually start exporting electricity.

Ćorić made the statement at the conference "Towards a new energy strategy", organised by the Jutarnji List daily. He noted that for a country the size of Croatia it was difficult to achieve full energy independence, especially with fossil fuels. "What we can do over the next 10 or 20 or 30 years is to try to fully meet our needs from our own electricity production and eventually start exporting, because we have sufficient renewable energy potential," the minister said.

Ćorić said he expected Parliament to adopt the new national energy strategy by the end of the second quarter, adding that the Green Paper of the Hrvoje Požar Energy Institute, which had been under public consultation in the last few months, served as the platform for the preparation of the strategy.

Ćorić noted that the Green Paper saw the largest potential in renewable energy sources, primarily the wind and sun. As for gas infrastructure, he said that gas consumption was expected to stagnate and decrease by 2050.

Sabina Škrtić, a board member of the ENNA Group, said that the Green Paper offered an inappropriate energy mix without sufficiently recognising waste energy and gas infrastructure. "The Green Paper should try to take advantage of the best that Croatia has and offer an optimum mix that will, first and foremost, lead to competitiveness," Škrtić said.

The CEO of RWE Energija, Zlatko Miliša, said that solar energy could be the "golden goose" for Croatia given that it has over 50 percent more hours of sunshine than some countries in continental Europe. "Each feasibility study of ours starts off with 50 percent better results," Miliša said. He noted that costs of technology in this sector are rapidly falling, which opens the possibility of operating solar power plants without subsidies.

"With the existing costs of electricity, projects for the construction of solar power plants along the Adriatic coast can become profitable within six to eight years without any subsidies," Miliša estimated.

Petar Sprčić, a board member of the state-owned power company HEP, said he was pleased that the strategy defined self-sufficiency among its goals and that Croatia was starting to use its own resources.

Minister Ćorić said that the construction of an LNG terminal on the northern Adriatic island of Krk would bring about security in terms of diversifying supply routes and would become commercial over time. He said he believed Croatia would find commercial interest in it, primarily in capacity booking by companies from neighbouring countries.

Ćorić said that from the point of view of energy security and the geopolitical point of view, this was one of the few projects that could put Croatia on the map of Europe and the world. "I'm not sure if there is an energy project of such potential in our neighbourhood," he said.

Ćorić said he believed that capacity booking would increase with time from the present 520 million cubic metres out of the total of 2.6 billion cubic metres. He cited several letters of intent from Hungarian companies and the possible interest of Slovenian companies.

Sandor Fasimon, the CEO of the INA oil and gas company, which has made an offer for the lease of capacity of the future LNG terminal, said he understood Croatian government efforts about this project because more options and alternative sources would lead to greater security of supply.

More news on the energy issues in Croatia can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, January 29, 2019 - President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said on Tuesday that a new energy strategy should contribute to Croatia's energy development and reduction of the country's dependence on the import of energy products and the introduction of new energy supply routes.

To this end, a decline in domestic production should be halted and alternative supply routes should be developed, the president said at the beginning of the conference titled "Towards a New Energy Strategy" organised in Zagreb by the Jutarnji List daily newspaper.

She called for more intensified use of the benefits of Croatia's geographic position so as to accomplish the national energy policy's goals: competitive and available energy and safe and secure provision.

The president underscored that management of energy sources and provision are essential conditions for sovereignty of every country. "A lack of large-scale investments in the energy sector since Croatia's independence, has adversely affected some key economic and development parameters," she said.

A future energy development strategy, which the president expects to be produced this year, should facilitate efforts to reach those goals.

She suggests that Croatia should integrate its energy infrastructure in the European Union's energy infrastructure and the infrastructure of its closest neighbourhood with an emphasis on new gas networking, which includes new interconnections and the enlargement of the current ones plus a future LNG terminal on the Croatian island of Krk.

More news on the Croatian energy situation can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, November 30, 2018 - US Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources Francis R. Fannon said on Friday that by building an LNG terminal, Croatia had the opportunity to use the new situations in the world of energy and become a regional energy leader.

Energy encourages economic growth and helps countries in self-determination and sovereignty, he said at a round table for journalists in Zagreb. We live in extraordinary times in terms of energy because of newly discovered fields around the world and progress in extraction technology and fuel production, he added.

Fannon arrived in Croatia after visiting Israel, Cyprus and Egypt where, over the past decade, large reserves of natural gas have been discovered which he said should find a way to Europe across Croatia in a few years.

Earlier this month, the LNG Hrvatska company selected a Norwegian bid to build a floating terminal expected to become operational in early 2021. The supplier of the terminal has not been selected yet.

Aside from Israel, Cyprus and Egypt, Fannon mentioned the US, Australia and Qatar as possible natural gas sources. Croatia has the opportunity to become the leader in the procurement of gas from many sources, he said.

US Ambassador Robert Kohorst said at the round table the buyers of the gas from the LNG terminal on Krk island would mainly come from Southeast Europe, given that the north of the continent has other sources.

The International Energy Agency said earlier this month that natural gas would replace coal as the second energy source in the world by 2030, with annual growth of 1.6%, the first being oil.

We must look at energy in a new context. It would be a mistake to expect things to stay as they are, Fannon said, noting that US oil production jumped from six million barrels a year in 2012 to 11 million today. That's an incredible growth, and the situation is similar with gas, he added.

Despite the fact that, according to the Financial Times, the 20 LNG terminals in Europe work at one fourth of their capacity, Fannon said building such an infrastructure created a broad strategic advantage.

More sources create a more competitive environment, he said, adding that Lithuania reduced the gas price by building a terminal and that depending on one supplier was not healthy for any state.

Fannon welcomed Croatia's new initiatives to explore energy sources on its territory. We are glad that Croatia has embarked on an independent energy journey and that it wants to be a regional energy hub, he said.

In October, the Croatian government decided to invite bids for hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation at seven land locations. Bids can be submitted by June 2019.

Earlier on Friday, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković met with Fannon who confirmed his country's support for the construction of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on the northern Adriatic island of Krk, the Croatian government said in a statement.

For more on the LNG terminal that is supposed to be constructed in Croatia, click here.

ZAGREB, November 9, 2018 - Croatia's energy development to 2030 and 2050 can continue at an accelerated or at a moderate pace and all options mean decarbonisation, switching to renewable energy sources and decreasing the emission of greenhouse gasses, notes an analysis by the Hrvoje Požar Energy Institute (EHIP) released on Thursday.

At the accelerated pace, investments from 2020 to 2050 would amount to 160.4 billion kuna or 5.4 billion kuna a year, whereas at the moderate pace they would amount to 133.7 billion kuna or 4.45 billion kuna a year.

During the presentation of the Green Book, it was heard that most of the investments relate to the electricity system - 120.8 billion kuna based on the accelerated "scenario 1" or 100 billion kuna according to the moderate "scenario 2."

Mario Tot from EIHP said that both scenarios involve decarbonising the production of electricity by switching to renewable energy sources.

Preliminary estimates indicate that the total investment in the electricity transmission network, including connections of new conventional power plants, wind farms and solar power plants in the period until 2030 would amount to 8.2 billion kuna in scenario 1, which means an investment of 686 million kuna a year, while the costs for scenario 2 would amount to 7.9 billion kuna or an average investment of 666 million kuna a year.

The accelerated pace of energy transition would decrease green house gasses by 40% by 2030 and by 75% by 2050. The consumption of electricity would be reduced by 2.6% by 2030 and by 28.6% by 2050.

The moderate pace of transition foresees a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of 35% by 2030 and 65% by 2050 compared to 1990. The consumption of power would be reduced by 8.1% by 2050, while buildings would be made energy efficient at a rate of 1.6%.

For more on energy issues in Croatia, click here.

ZAGREB, October 22, 2018 - President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said on Monday that Croatia could become a strong energy hub for the whole of Europe and for that to be achieved, it was necessary to make significant investments, for instance, in the planned LNG terminal on the island of Krk and in Croatia's sections of the Ionian-Adriatic gas supply pipeline.

ZAGREB, September 27, 2018 - Croatia can become an important European energy hub, it was said at an international forum about geopolitical energy prospects in Split on Thursday. "Croatia can become an important energy hub on Europe's energy map," State Secretary at the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Energy Ivo Milatić said addressing the two-day energy-banking forum.

The amount includes just the LED bulbs bought at IKEA.

ZAGREB, July 30, 2018 - Six Croatian towns are in the race for the prestigious European Energy Award which is granted as part of a project aimed at building the local government capacity in the area of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources.