As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes, the development of tourism in Croatia must be sustainable and be guided by the principles of the benefit of everyone and the environment, not pure profitability. This and more could be heard at the presentation of the cooperation between the Croatian company Valamar and E.ON recently in Porec.
It was emphasised that energy efficiency and renewable energy sources are one of the most important focuses of this principle.
SaIvana Budin Arhanic, a member of Valamar’s Management Board, explained that they have been investing in renewable energy sources for years now, and currently they produce about about six percent of their own electricity. Over the past four years, Valamar has invested a total of 400 million kuna in energy efficiency projects.
“The amount of total electricity produced from RES corresponds to consumption on the island of Sv. Nikola in Porec and the tourist resources located here are completely covered from that source. However, the Croatian company Valamar, as a corporation, exclusively buys green energy, which in turn allows us to maintain the highest environmental EU standards,” said Budin Arhanic. Alen Benkovic, Valamar’s senior vice president for technology, pointed out that the 2nd and 3rd phases of the RES development project in Valamar are already being prepared.
“The plan is that by the year 2025, 20 percent of our consumption will come from our own sources. It’s clear that there are many administrative and technical obstacles, but the goal is ambitious and we really do hope we manage to achieve it. It’s more and more about respecting the environment and about ecology, but also security of supply and the price itself,” said Benkovic.
Vedran Belamaric, Director of Energy Solutions at E.ON Croatia, pointed out that the project with the large Croatian company Valamar launched 2.5 years ago was very logistically demanding.
“This is a very innovative business model that includes a kind of ESCO, or BOT (Build Operate Transfer) model, so that at first the power plant is ours, until the sale of energy pays off, and then becomes the property of Valamar. It’s a technically very demanding project that includes 26 locations with 68 facilities, installed capacities of 3.5 MW, which means about 5 GWh of electricity produced per year,” explained Belamaric.
He added that they have significant problems, both in Istria and in the rest of Croatia, with bureaucracy and there are a number of solar power plants that have been built, but due to “paperwork” still can not be put into operation. Some of them have been waiting to be put into full function for more than a year now. The situation is almost the same with investments made by companies as with power plants installed by people themselves.
E.ON has implemented or is implementing about 50 projects across the Republic of Croatia for business users with a total installed capacity of 40 MW solar power plants, and they also have a large number of households in their impressive portfolio. Andreas Rorig, President of the Management Board of E.ON Croatia, pointed out at the aforementioned recent event in Porec that solar energy has the most significant growth potential in the coming years in Croatia.
“Istria and Dalmatia have 40 percent more insolation compared to, for example, Munich, creating the same percentage of earlier return on investment. By installing home solar power plants, we’ve helped our customers achieve energy efficiency and independence, and we’re continuing to develop smart and diverse energy solutions tailored to the needs of modern households. Together with our business customers such as Valamar Riviera, Pliva, Zito Group, Bauhaus, Gavrilovic, Atlantic and other industry leaders and sustainability leaders, we’re working hard in order to realise the solar potential of the Croatian market and shape that market together.
Throughout 2022, we’re going to invest at least 12.5 million euros through BOT models with energy purchase agreements (PPAs) with our customers. In addition, we expect more than 25 million euros to invest in other solar projects that we’re currently working on,” concluded Rorig.
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