Small-scale renewable power plants development in Croatia: status analysis and improvement suggestions

Klimatske promjene jedan su od najvažnijih problema današnjice, a istraživanja pokazuju da oko njih nisu zabrinuti samo znanstvenici i dio donosioca odluka, nego i većina građana. Kako bi energetiku, sektor koji uzrokuje najveći udio emisija stakleničkih plinova, razvijali u smjeru koji ne utječe negativno na klimu, potrebno je raditi na projektima energetske učinkovitosti i razvijati obnovljive izvore energije. Obnovljivi izvori energije u Hrvatskoj imaju visoke tehničke i ekonomske potencijale te dugu razvojnu povijest. Znanstvene i stručne projekcije pokazuju da je potencijal obnovljivih izvora dovoljan da bude dominantan izvor električne energije. I nacionalni dokumenti ukazuju na potencijale. Ipak, vlasnici u pravnoj formi fizičkih osoba, obrta, malih poduzetnika, zadruga i energetskih zajednica nisu vlasnici velikog udjela instalirane snage obnovljivih izvora električne energije. Promjenom zakonodavnog okvira Europske unije, promijenio se i okvir za razvoj malih obnovljivih izvora energije i u tom su se smislu otvorile mnoge mogućnosti. Za razvoj postoje izvjesne barijere: strateške, institucionalne, društvene, ekonomske i tehničke, koje su obrađene i za koje su predložena rješenja.Climate change is one of the most important issues today, and research shows that not only scientists and part of decision-makers are concerned, but also most of the citizens. In order to develop energy sector, which is responsible for the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions, in a direction that is not affecting the climate, it is necessary to work on energy efficiency measures and develop renewable energy projects. Renewable energy in power sector in Croatia has high technical and economic potential and a long development history. Scientific and expert models show that the potential for renewables is sufficient to base all electricity production solely on them. National documents also recognize potentials. However, owners in the legal form of natural persons, crafts, small businesses, cooperatives and energy communities do not own a large share of the installed capacity of renewable electricity. With the change of the legislative framework of the European Union, the framework for development of small renewable energy power plants has also changed and many possibilities have been opened in this regard. There are certain barriers to development: strategic, institutional, social, economic and technical, which have been addressed and solutions proposed in this paper