September the 10th, 2022 - Krizevci in the continental part of Croatia is doing excellently when it comes to relying on solar power and becoming more and more green in the energy sense, with the number of Krizevci households using solar power doubling.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, following a recently announced public call/invitation, the mayor of Krizevci, Mario Rajn, signed contracts with an impressive 39 Krizevci residents on the co-financing of the construction of solar power plants on the roofs of their houses.

This is the third year in a row that the co-financing programme for the construction of solar power panels has been implemented, and the number of users compared to 2021 has tripled.

"The people themselves are the backbone of the energy transition. We were the first to introduce this equipment co-financing programme, we were the first to co-finance a public photovoltaic power plant, and we were the first to open the Energy and Climate Office. I'd like to invite the others to use the funds from the call for the creation of project-technical documentation and to be ready next year when the tender opens," said Rajn.

Satisfaction with the increased number of users in Krizevci and beyond was expressed by expert associate Ivana Dubravec on behalf of the energy cooperative KLIK and the Energy and Climate Office, and she had to say the following:

"This year, we prepared as many as 48 applications for project documentation and 35 applications for the construction of solar power panels. It can be seen that our work is recognised within the city of Krizevci and beyond. I'd like to invite you to spread the positive word so that even more people will be able to receive help and that in 2023 we will build even more projects and power plants.''

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August the 27th, 2022 - Precisely how much does Croatian solar panel installation cost, and how much can really be saved by going to the trouble of having them fitted?

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, with just how much sun Croatia receives on an annual basis, residents deciding to go for Croatian solar power installation could save thousands and thousands of kuna a year if they decided to take the leap and get their power directly from the sun. Since the government removed VAT on it, everyone appears to be going a little crazy about Croatian solar panel installation, as reported by RTL.

"Just by the number of emails arriving, we can see that the interest in Croatian solar power installation has increased and that there will be more of such things to come," said Jasmina Novak, Solvis project manager.

Because of this, the machines working in the production of these panels are rarely ever turned off. The only producer of photovoltaic modules in all of the Republic of Croatia sold its solar panals to Google, and now they're having to pass on smaller jobs to others because they simply can't manage it all on their own anymore, such is the level of interest.

"We're raising the sector by forwarding these smaller inquiries to our partners, who then process the inquiry on a turnkey basis, from project to realisation, and that is working very well for now," explained Novak.

They hope that the Croatian Government's measure to abolish VAT, which will make solar panels cheaper in general, will also work well. What currently costs 35,000 kuna will then cost 26,250 kuna to buy and have installed. People's pockets are far more shallow than the once were, and with inflation continuing to bite and prices continuing to spiral, it's likely that there will be more and more interest for solar panels as time goes on.

For more on solar panels and other Croatian eco energy plans, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

July the 14th, 2022 - A mass Zagreb solar panel installation would see spending on electricity cut by a massive 80 percent. Although the Croatian capital has lagged a bit behind the rest of the country in terms of leaning more towards renewable energy sources and the overall green energy transition, it now wants to make up for it with giant steps forward, and even become a national leader.

As Darko Bicak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Zagrebacki suncani krovovi/Zagreb solar panels company would be in charge of carrying out a large energy project of the same name, which aims to start the mass Zagreb solar panel installation on the city's public buildings. The move should ultimately, according to the announcement of Mayor Tomislav Tomasevic, bring 80 percent savings compared to the current costs for electricity energy and reduce CO2 emissions by the same impressive percentage.

The decision to establish a new city company was made at a recently held City Assembly. The company will have no employees, and it will manage investments of more than 300 million kuna. The project was presented at the end of last year when the Croatian Parliament adopted a programme entitled "Integrated solar power plants on public buildings, multi-apartment buildings and family houses and commercial buildings in the Zagreb area for the period from 2022 - 2024".

As explained by Zorislav Antun Petrovic, chairman of the Environmental Protection Committee of the Zagreb City Assembly, the goal of the programme is to increase the use of renewable energy sources while promoting the use of solar energy in public, private and commercial facilities across the capital city.

"The programme will enable the coordinated preparation and construction of integrated solar power panels on the roofs of existing buildings with the ultimate goal of providing electricity from renewable sources. The construction of solar power plants will make it possible to reduce operating costs, create the proper prerequisites for the decarbonisation of the buildings themselves, achieve energy and climate goals, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by increasing the share of renewable energy sources," explained Antun Petrovic.

The City Office for Economy, Environmental Sustainability and Strategic Planning, as well as the Regional Energy Agency of Northwest Croatia - REGEA, are both responsible for the operational implementation and management of the programme. The City of Zagreb noted that REGEA itself, as a non-profit institution, is neither registered nor authorised to perform the production or sale/supply of electricity. Therefore, for the purpose of implementing the investment part of the programme, i.e. mass Zagreb solar panel installation on the roofs of buildings, a trading company has been established with the aim of the efficient and timely preparation and implementation of the investments themselves: from design, securing financing to construction and management.

A detailed analysis of 567 of Zagreb's public buildings, excluding buildings owned by Zagreb/Zagrebacki holding, was carried out, and conceptual projects and requests for obtaining power consent for the first 150 were prepared. This is a total capacity of more than 10 MW with an investment value of more than 75 million kuna. According to the study presented by REGEA, it is expected that residents of the city could be involved in the extension of this project, and both the volume of the project and the size of the total investment would increase.

"There's been a successful application to the so-called The Norwegian Fund - a total of seven solar power panels with a power of about 1.3 MW, an investment value of 10 million kuna, with a grant of 85 percent. When preparing the investments themselves, all possible models of implementation will be considered, depending on the specific profile of the roof itself, i.e. the consumption of the specific location, which implies financing through grants from European Union (EU) funds, technical assistance funds from development banks and loans from commercial banks," they stated from the City of Zagreb.

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As Marta Duic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 18th of January, 2020, the European Union funded 60 percent of the project, cutting spending by 43 percent. Nina Commerce, a part of the popular Planet obuća (footwear) shopping chain, started a project back in June of 2018, which involved building a photovoltaic power plant for its own purposes at its facility located at Slavonska avenija (Slavonian avenue) 19 a in the capital city of Zagreb.

Today, the works are finally complete and the power plant on the roof of the building belonging to Nina Commerce is up and ready to go. The project is worth a massive 1,976,823.00 kuna in total, of which the European Union co-financed a welcome 1.22 million.

"The pilot operation of the photovoltaic power plant started on January the 17th, 2020, and if everything goes well, the power plant will enter into permanent operation. We were encouraged to create energy savings and improve environmental awareness. Of course, we were also encouraged by the co-financing of the project by the cohesion fund, as well as our partners who have gone through the painstaking process of purchasing equipment and building it,'' explained Tomislav Filipovic of Nina Commerce.

Nina Commerce participated in the construction with 40 percent of the value and the remaining 60 percent was covered by the EU, and when it comes to the project's documentation and publicity, Nina Commerce participated with 15 percent and the EU chipped in with a massive 85 percent of the costs. The construction of a photovoltaic power plant will reduce harmful CO2 emissions by a very impressive 58.30 tonnes, and the share of renewable energy in the company’s total energy balance will stand at 43.42 percent.

''The process was extremely arduous and rigid, and it was very important to adhere to all of the rules and norms issued by the EU Fund, given the time frames. Fortunately, we made all of our commitments on time so we didn't have any financial corrections to deal with and everything went well,'' Filipovic noted. Otherwise, Nina Commerce employs more than 380 people, operates in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia and currently has 129 branches under its belt.

"The plan for 2020 is to remain the largest shoe retail chain in the Republic of Croatia and continue to expand while maintaining jobs and increasing employee salaries," concluded Tomislav Filipovic.

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