Twenty years ago, Croatia inaugurated its first wind farm, a project by Adria Wind Power that marked the country’s initial venture into commercial wind energy production. The path to bring this project to life was challenging and lengthy — it took a full seven years to complete — and even today, renewable energy investors face numerous administrative and regulatory obstacles.
The success of this pioneering wind farm shows that facilities can remain viable and competitive once incentives expire. However, industry experts warn that progress has stagnated due to ongoing policy uncertainties. A key issue is the lack of a defined price for grid connection, a policy that has been delayed for more than 950 days. The Croatian Chamber of Economy underscores the urgency of addressing this, not only for the country’s energy future but also for consumers and investors.
Croatia’s wind farms currently contribute 1,141 MW to the national grid, yet in the past two years, only 47 MW were added — a slow pace, given that investor interest exceeds several hundred megawatts. The updated National Energy and Climate Plan aims to raise the share of renewable energy in final energy consumption from the current 28% to 42.5% by 2030. However, this ambitious target will be hard to achieve under present conditions.
Besides the delay in pricing network connection, the sector struggles with an unpredictable regulatory framework, slow permitting, and poor spatial planning. Although numerous energy approvals have been issued, no tenders for state-owned land have yet been held. Furthermore, the country’s transmission network has bottlenecks — particularly in transporting energy from the south to the north — and this limitation cannot be addressed without the completion of two key power lines, which are not expected before 2030.
Expanding renewable energy will require smarter grid solutions and greater integration of energy storage, such as batteries. Nevertheless, many technical and legislative uncertainties remain. Some developers have opted to repower their sites by replacing older wind turbines with more powerful ones. However, these projects are treated as entirely new facilities and require fresh environmental impact assessments and long-term monitoring, adding to their complexity and cost.
