July the 8th, 2023 – As a company which invests a lot in being green, it isn’t a surprise that the Podravka solar power plant has won the Croatian Energy Society’s award.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Podravka solar power plant won the award for being a realised project of rational energy management and the improvement of environmental quality, as well as for being the largest integrated solar power plant in all of Croatia.
Sustainability is no longer merely an option
“The numerous challenges we have faced over more recent years have only confirmed that doing business sustainably is no longer merely an option, but the only way any company can survive and remain successful in the long term. I’m extremely glad that our strong efforts to be energy independent have been recognised. We should be proud that we managed to construct the largest power plant built on the roof of a company or factory,” said the President of the Management Board of Podravka, Martina Dalić.
Podravka is no stranger to caring for the environment
Podravka recently presented its praiseworthy Sustainable Business Strategy for the period until 2030, which defined four main pillars of activity. One of them is ensuring a clean environment, while the main goals set are to obtain 100% of the company’s required electricity and 50% of thermal energy from renewable sources in production in the EU.
The Podravka solar power plant is an enormous step in the right direction
With the Podravka solar power plant project in the Danica industrial zone in Koprivnica, this huge enterprise has already increased its share in the use of energy from renewable sources to 26%. 9,272 photovoltaic panels with a total installed capacity of 3,059 kW, which produce 3,266 million kWh of electricity, have been installed on the roofs of factories located in the industrial zone.
Preparations are also currently underway to expand the same Podravka solar power plant by an additional 6,209.6 kW, and additional plants will also be built on the roofs of the Koktel pastry factory and part of the warehouse in Koprivnica, as well as on the warehouse in Dugopolje (near Split) and at the Mirna factory in Rovinj. Additional expansion is also being actively planned for the already existing solar power plant at the Kalnik plant in Varaždin. After the completion of all solar power plants, Podravka will have an installed capacity of more than 13,000 kW, i.e. its own electricity production of almost 14,000,000 kWh per year.
The award itself
The annual “Hrvoje Požar” award is otherwise awarded to employees for their professional and scientific contribution to improving the climate and improving the quality of the environment in the energy sector.
This year’s award was the 28th in a row, and they were given in four categories – for significant professional and scientific activity in the development of energy, for innovation in the field of energy, for the realised project of rational energy management, and for the popularisation of energy.
In addition to all of the aforementioned, students of energy studies and energy majors in their final year of undergraduate and graduate university studies, as well as for a particularly notable graduate thesis in the field of energy, were also awarded for outstanding success in their studies so far.
