Austria’s Conex Invest to develop 60 MW solar plant in Croatia

Austria’s Conex Invest Finanzierungs, through local firm Photo Volt, is investing in the construction of a 60 MW ground-mounted solar power plant in Croatia, with a projected annual electricity output of nearly 77 GWh.

The investment, valued at about EUR 75.6 million including VAT, will be partly financed from European Union funds, and Conex Invest expects construction works to take 48 months once it submits a notice of commencement.

The solar power plant, called MVES 60, will be located in the Martinska Ves municipality in Sisak-Moslavina county in the central part of the country. Croatian firm Microstar, based in the city of Bjelovar, has been selected to develop project documentation and perform the construction works.

The solar power plant MVES 60 will span 65 hectares

Electricity produced by the on-grid power plant will be delivered to the network of the Croatian Transmission System Operator (HOPS). The MVES 60 power plant will have 207,300 photovoltaic panels, with a total peak capacity of 68.4 MW, deployed over an area of 65 hectares.

The plant’s annual revenue is projected at EUR 4.98 million

The solar power plant’s annual revenue is projected at EUR 4.98 million, while the local authority is expected to pull in between EUR 478,000 and EUR 797,000. The projected lifespan of MVES 60 is slightly over 30 years, with electricity production decreasing by 10% in the first 10 years of operation and by a further 10% over the following 15 years, continuing to decline at the same rate for 5 more years.

Croatia’s potential for utility-scale solar plants is estimated at 5.3 GW

According to earlier reports, the potential for solar energy in Croatia is estimated at 6.8 GW, of which 5.3 GW for utility-scale photovoltaic plants and 1.5 GW for rooftop solar systems. Croatia currently has 100 MW of installed solar power capacity, but it plans to boost the figure to 1 GW given that the share of electricity it gets from solar power plants is a mere 0.4%, compared with the EU average of 5%.