ZAGREB, 4 May 2022 - Finance Minister Zdravko Marić said on Wednesday that the ministries of finance and economy had been working together to ensure secure supplies of oil, gas, electricity and other energy products.

"We have been doing that for some time. We have been affected by rising prices but we have the obligation to secure adequate and quality supplies," he said when asked about the announcement that the government would make sure the underground gas storage facility Okoli was filled, the cost of which, according to reporters, was estimated at billions of kuna.

Noting that it was necessary to be prepared for all possible circumstances and possible additional changes and deteriorated circumstances such as those in the past few weeks and months, Marić said that the model that was being worked on would certainly have some repercussions for the state budget considering energy prices, mentioning in that context gas and its higher purchase price.

"Naturally it is not in our interest for HEP (power supplier) and others to suffer losses and have problems. That is where we come in and we will take everything into consideration," he said without going into detail, adding that the model would be presented once it was finalised.

Brodosplit is a serious issue

Answering questions about the situation in the Split-based shipyard Brodosplit, Marić said that that topic was being taken seriously. "I recently said clearly that we have never turned our backs on any situation of that kind and we will not do so now. However, for something to be realised, preconditions need to be fulfilled first," he added.

At one moment, the impression was created that such situations can be resolved exclusively with a loan from the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR) and a state guarantee, Marić said, reiterating that state guarantees are taxpayers' money and that it was necessary "to take all the circumstances and preparations into consideration as well as what follows after that."

"Let the experts at HBOR obtain all the important information just like they would for any other loan for a potential client... so we can get a guarantee that the business model will continue to be tenable," said Marić.

The Brodosplit shipyard recently applied for pre-bankruptcy proceedings due to €60 million in loans from the Russian-owned VTB Europe Bank that were to be used for the construction of two ships, however, due to sanctions against Russia the dock's accounts are currently blocked.

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April the 7th, 2022 - The Cetina river basin is being explored for its potential energy properties as alternative energy sources are sought following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Russia's invasion of neighbouring Ukraine has caused a sharp rise in energy prices from fossil sources, and consequently others. The current situation and trends here in Croatia once again work to remind us of the short-sightedness of the Croatian authorities when it comes to the country's national energy policy, reports Slobodna Dalmacija.

Over more recent years, HEP's new production facilities have been reduced to power plants in Zagreb and Osijek and only one hydropower plant with a capacity of about 40 megawatts, and only today is HEP entering wind and solar power projects without state incentives because, according to the public statements of its main people, even without incentives the production of electricity from wind and solar is economically viable, ie profitable.

In such circumstances, one should look with great optimism at the possible construction of new high-power hydropower plants, such as the potential ones on the Cetina river basin in Otok and in Bitelic.

As things stand today, the resources provided by the wind and the sun are huge and are only just beginning to be used. It is very likely, especially due to the proclaimed anti-fossil energy policy, that the amount of energy produced from these sources here in Croatia will grow steadily. Therefore, it will be necessary to provide in parallel current reserves capable of rescuing the system when unsustainable sources do end up failing.

As such, it isn't really questionable whether the ideas on the construction of reversible hydropower plants (RHE) called 'Blaca' (in Otok) and 'Vrdovo' (in Hrvace), which have long outgrown the idea in operationalisation, will be realised, but for now, the only unknown is just when it will happen.

Locals reacted with displeasure to the recently kicked off HEP geomechanical testing of the soil along the Cetina river basin, more precisely near the village of Gale, where the lower pool of the (as yet) imaginary RHE 'Blaca' would be. HEP's public relations department publicly responded to their understandable protest, stating:

''The Cetina river basin has long since grown into a Croatian hydropower giant. Five hydroelectric power plants are successfully producing electricity on the left side of the river, with a total installed capacity of more than 970 MW, and two future RHE installed electricity factories on the left bank of the Cetina river would exceed a fantastic 2,000 megawatts.

And that, for sure, won't even be the final figure. If in the future the main energy source is wind and solar power, which will be necessary due to the need to substitute Russian natural gas and energy in general from fossil sources, it is certain that new RHEs will be built on the Cetina river basin because there are some extremely favourable natural conditions in that area,'' they stated.

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