Croatian Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development revealed the list of 33 rejected application for the issuance of energy permits for renewable energy projects out of around 200 submitted applications.
Among the rejected applications are 26 solar power plant projects, five wind farms, one hydropower plant and one cogeneration project. The combined installed capacity of rejected application amounts to 2,479.25 MW. Sorted by generation type, a total of 1,510.5 MW in solar projects was rejected, 684 MW in wind projects, 150 MW in hydro and 85 MW in cogeneration projects. However, the list does not state any reasons for the rejection.
Among rejected projects is a 150 MW hydropower plant submitted by state-owned power utility HEP, as well as their 85 MW cogeneration project. 200 MW wind project submitted by local company Postak was also rejected, as well as El Sun Energy’s proposal for 850 MW solar power plant.
The rejected projects will have to re-apply for the issuance of energy permit under the Article 17 of the Energy Market Law, which involves much more complex procedures.
So far, the Ministry of Energy and Sustainable Development has issued only about 20 energy permits from more than 200 applications, meaning that, if recent rejections are included, there are around 150 applications still in procedure.
The process itself is slow, which is not well accepted among RES investors, because projects cannot progress further without obtaining the energy permit. This way, Croatia also jeopardizes reaching its mandatory RES targets.
