The Croatian Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Davor Filipović outlined his country’s plans for domestic energy production during the 38th International Scientific and Professional Meeting of Gas Experts in Opatija (north-east Croatia) on Wednesday (10 May).
Minister Filipović emphasised that Croatia has intensified its transition towards renewable energy sources to maximise domestic energy production. For the first time, an international call has been made for six exploration fields to exploit the country’s geothermal potential. Additionally, in the short term, the number of solar panels used by households is expected to triple through an Environmental Protection Fund.
“As part of the Modernisation Fund, worth about one billion euros, we started with calls to entrepreneurs to withdraw grants for investments in competitiveness, and part of them refers precisely to the stimulation of energy production for our own needs. Our goal is to have more than 2,500 MW of new renewable energy sources by 2030,” the Minister said.
Minister Filipović also mentioned Croatia’s 2050 strategy for utilising the country’s potential in hydrogen and its role in the North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley Project, a regional cooperation platform between Croatia, Slovenia and the Italian Autonomous Region of Friuli-Venezia-Giulia. The project aims to attract more investments to the region and countries that have established a hydrogen valley while ensuring an uninterrupted value chain from hydrogen production to utilisation, the Minister noted.
“These are just some of the key changes that we are actively implementing, policies that we are implementing in order to ensure a stable and safe future for Croatia, but also to keep our country clean and green,” said Minister Filipović. “However, it should be mentioned that these paradigmatic changes that affect all of us, the way we live and work, the way we produce and travel… require all of us to be included in this transition. Producers, entrepreneurs, but also citizens. And just as cooperation at the EU level has shown that this is the key to a successful transition, the same is true for all of us in Croatia – with joint efforts, we are on the way to making Croatia safer for the times to come, to make more of the energy we produce from renewable sources and to produce more energy on our own soil.”
