Croatia achieved record-high production of electricity from renewable energy sources on Sunday – total production from these sources was about 48 GWh, with the maximum hourly RES production being more than 2,100 MWh/h, according to the Croatian electricity transmission system operator HOPS.
The statement from the operator said that this was also influenced by the weather situation in Croatia, which brought some extreme meteorological situations (heavy rain and south wind). All this favored breaking both the daily and hourly record in the production of electricity from renewable energy sources.
According to preliminary data, on Sunday, 6 December, Croatian hydropower plants produced over 30 GWh of electricity, with hourly production reaching almost 1,400 MWh / h. Production from other renewable energy sources amounted to as much as 843 MWh/h, with HOPS separating wind farms, which, with the current about 800 MW of installed capacity, achieved a maximum hourly production of about 717 MWh/h. It is worth mentioning that RES production surpassed Croatia’s domestic consumption, which stood at around 47 GWh, on Sunday.
However, this happened on Sunday, when consumption is usually the lowest (daily maximum is around 2250 MWh/h), and put the Croatian transmission network to a serious test, which was supposed to safely absorb the increased production, i.e. export surplus electricity to neighboring countries. Therefore, Croatia exported over 1,100 MWh/h on Sunday, which is another record.
HOPS said that yesterday’s operating situation can be viewed as a serious live test for some extreme situations that are observed for the needs of the development of electricity transmission network development. Such situations are rare, but the system must be ready to answer to them, especially with increased requests for the connection of new RES production facilities, HOPS concluded.
