ZAGREB, June 28, 2018 – By 2050, the Croatian state-run power company HEP will produce 70% of electricity from renewable resources, the president of the HEP management board Frane Barbarić said on Thursday during a ceremony of signing an agreement on the construction of a solar power station on the island of Cres, the first in a series of planned power plants to be run on solar power and other renewables.
The agreement on cooperation was signed today by HEP, Primorje-Gorski Kotar County and the local Franciscan monastery on the island, as stakeholders in the project to construct the Orlec Trinket solar power plant on the northern Croatian island.
The power plant will be built on an area of 17 hectares and will have a capacity of generating 6.5 megawatts of electricity. That is 6.5 times more than the largest existing plant of this type in the country. It will produce an average of 8.5 million kilowatt hours a year which is approximately the consumption of 2,000 households.
Barbarić said that this will be the first non-integrated solar power plant and that it will contribute to strengthening the infrastructure for the purpose of developing tourism on the islands of Cres and Lošinj, and will provide sufficient electricity during the peak tourism season.
HEP will invest about 45 million kuna in the project, Barbarić said, adding that this will be an example for other potential investors in solar power plants. He added that HEP is currently working on five or six major projects based on renewable resources.
HEP’s strategy foresees increasing the share of power produced from renewable resources to 50% by 2030 and 70% by 2050, he said. “That way we will have a leading role in Croatia’s energy transition,” Barbarić underscored.
