Croatia’s official energy market operator Hrvatski Operator Tržišta Energije (HROTE) has launched a tender round to allocate 622MW of renewable generation capacity. HROTE estimates that if all 622MW has been auctioned off, then Croatia’s annual renewable electricity production will increase by about 1.5TWh. This story was first reported by other renewable energy news websites in early April.
By technology and capacity requirement, the distribution of 622MW is as follows: 300MW for PV projects that are larger than 500kW; 300MW for wind farms that are larger than 3MW; 4MW for hydropower plants that are 500kW-10MW in scale; 8MW for biomass and biogas projects that are larger than 500kW, and 10MW for geothermal power plants that are larger than 500kW.
The 622MW tender is part of a larger 2.2GW renewable energy auction program that is being implemented by the Croatian government. Projects that are selected in this round will be subsidized by FiT and a 12-year market premium agreement. The market premium is the difference between the contracted reference value and the market price. The FiT rates for PV projects and wind farms are capped at HRK 495.63 per MWh and HRK 460.91 per MWh respectively. The selected projects will have four years to complete and enter operation.
It is should be noted that the renewable energy auction and the related supporting schemes have already been approved by the European Commission. Furthermore, projects featuring “innovative technologies” that have been subsidized by the EU are eligible for the tender.