Electricity

Croatia’s first geothermal power plant Velika 1 officially unveiled

Tomislav Ćorić (left) and Muharrem Balat (right), photo by Maks Petković

Published

November 19, 2019

Country

Comments

comments icon

0

Share

Published:

November 19, 2019

Country:

Comments:

comments icon

0

Share

Croatia’s first geothermal power plant, the 16.5 MW Velika 1 in Ciglena near Bjelovar, has been officially unveiled in a ceremony attended by Croatian Minister of Environmental Protection and Energy Tomislav Ćorić and Muharrem Balat, Chairman of the Board of Turkey’s MB Holding, which owns the plant. Europe’s biggest binary power plant was built in an investment of HRK 325 million (around EUR 43.7 million).

The Velika 1 geothermal power plant was put in operation in December 2018, and has been operating at full capacity since March 2019, supplying electricity to almost the entire city of Bjelovar. The plant’s core technology was produced by Italy’s Truboden, while domestic suppliers and contractors accounted for over 68% of the total investment, according to the Croatian Renewable Energy Sources (OIEH) association.

Project manager Dragutin Domitrović said that Velika 1 has a power purchase agreement with the Croatian Energy Market Operator (HROTE) for 10 MW of installed capacity, which corresponds to the average consumption of 29,000 Croatian households.

Electricity produced by geothermal power plants is fed to the grid regardless of the weather or time of day. Since it started operating at full capacity in March this year, Velika 1 has delivered over 55 GWh of electricity, according to Domitrović.

Muharrem Balat, Chairman of the Board of MB Holding, said that the company has built five power plants in Turkey, which are still performing very well, adding that he hopes MB Holding will do the same in Croatia.

Balat noted that geothermal energy has numerous advantages over other renewable energy sources, since it can deliver electricity 24/7/365. He added that investing in geothermal energy is risky and cost intensive, but that the Turkish company is prepared to continue with investments in Croatia.

In early September, MB Holding signed a contract on designing a binary (ORC) geothermal power plant called Legrad, with a projected installed capacity of 19.9 MW.

According to end-2018 data, Turkey was the global leader in adding new geothermal capacity last year, while Croatia was sixth worldwide.

Comments (0)

Be the first one to comment on this article.

Enter Your Comment
Please wait... Please fill in the required fields. There seems to be an error, please refresh the page and try again. Your comment has been sent.

Related Articles

serbia naled CBAM analysis jobs

NALED urges action to protect jobs at energy-intensive industries threatened by CBAM

13 June 2025 - The National Alliance for Local Economic Development has called on the state to introduce measures to protect energy-intensive industries

serbia suncarlito beta solar token subotica solar power plant

SunCarlito Beta issues tokens to raise funds for 2.2 MW solar power plant in Serbia

13 June 2025 - Investors can buy 3,402 tokens called Solar Token ST_1, priced at EUR 500 each. The deadline to purchase the tokens is July 9

nuclear power plant reactor edf france

French power prices jump as EDF looks into possible nuclear reactor defect

12 June 2025 - France’s state-owned power utility EDF is investigating apparent corrosion cracks found at the Civaux 2 nuclear reactor.

nuclear power plant world bank

World Bank to back nuclear projects again amid rising electricity needs

12 June 2025 - The World Bank would support projects to extend the life of existing nuclear power plants and speed up the rollout of small modular reactors.