The Croatian Government is preparing open calls for renewable energy sources, based on the new incentive system with market premiums and guaranteed purchase prices. The aim is to have the open calls announced by the end of 2019.
Currently, the Government and the Ministry of Environment and Energy are working on several by-laws, so that the Croatian energy market operator (HROTE) can carry out the open calls. The most important new by-laws include:
- decree on the use of renewable energy sources and cogeneration;
- decree on the quotas for the incentivized production of electric energy from renewable energy sources and cogeneration (this decree will set out the rules and procedures for conducting the open calls);
- decree on the decrease of the fees for renewable energy sources and cogeneration; and,
- rules on guarantees on the origin of electric energy.
All of these by-laws are currently in the process of public consultations, and expectations are that they will be enacted by the end of Q2 2019. These bylaws will be subject to approval by the European Commission before their implementation.
The current regulatory work is a part of the energy sector reforms which started with the enactment of the amendments to the Act on Renewable Energy Sources and High-efficiency Cogeneration in late 2018.
The main amendments relate to the full initiation of the operations of the ECO balance group. Specifically, since 1 January 2019, HROTE – as the Croatian electric energy market operator, is obliged to sell electricity produced by the ECO balance group on the market (namely on the CROPEX power exchange). The ECO balance group comprises of eligible producers and other parties engaged in electricity production, who are entitled to incentivized prices according to the purchase agreement with HROTE.
The information in this document does not constitute legal advice on any particular matter and is provided for general informational purposes only.
