Photo: HEP
Croatia’s power utility Hrvatska Elektroprivreda (HEP) has started building the Korlat wind farm near Benkovac. HEP’s first wind farm will have an installed capacity of 58 MW, which is more than the capacity of the currently biggest operational wind farm in Croatia.
The Korlat wind farm is expected to produce around 170 GWh of electricity annually, or 1% of Croatia’s annual electricity consumption, which is sufficient to supply more than 50,000 households, HEP said in a press release. The total value of the investment exceeds HRK 500 million (about EUR 67.5 million).
This is a signal that HEP, the key energy company in Croatia, has an excellent grasp of the new energy strategy whose development is under way, said Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković at the groundbreaking ceremony. This is why the start of construction on the Korlat wind farm and the preparation of a project to build the Korlat solar power plant is important both in terms of power supply and staying on top of the global and environmental trends in the energy sector, according to Plenković.
The wind farm will have 18 turbines, each with a capacity of 3.6 MW. The turbines will be delivered, built, and put into operation by German wind turbine manufacturer Nordex Group. The infrastructural and connection works, monitoring, and supervision will be executed by Croatia’s Ing-Grad and Fractal.
The wind farm is planned to be fully operational in August 2020.
It will be the first new wind power facility in Croatia to produce electricity without guaranteed purchase at a subsidized price
The Korlat wind farm does not have privileged producer status and has no contract with the Croatian Energy Market Operator (HROTE). It will be the first new wind power facility in Croatia to produce electricity without guaranteed purchase at a subsidized price.
This means that HEP will not get funds collected from consumers in the form of a renewables incentive fee for the Korlat wind farm. The project’s cost-effectiveness was determined for HEP based on market prices for electricity.
HEP is developing a number of other wind power projects as part of its renewables development strategy through 2030. In this period, the company plans to boost its overall production capacities by 1,500 MW, nearly a half of which in wind and solar power plants, said HEP Management Board President Frane Barbarić.
HEP plans to have 350 MW in wind power capacities and as much in solar power capacities, which together equals the capacity of the Krško nuclear power plant.
HEP mulls 75 MW solar power plant at same location
One of the solar power plants HEP is considering building is a solar power plant adjacent to the Korlat wind farm.
The Korlat solar power plant’s installed capacity would be around 75 MW. This would make Korlat a unique green energy production facility in Croatia and the wider region in terms of the overall installed capacity of power plants using renewable energy sources. The estimated value of the investment is around HRK 480 million (about EUR 65 million).
In addition to the Vis solar power plant already under construction, works on the Cres and Vrlika Jug solar power plants will be launched soon, HEP said. HEP’s renewables development strategy through 2030 envisages boosting the share of renewables in HEP’s production portfolio by 50% and increasing power generation from renewable energy sources from 6 billion kWh to 9 billion kWh annually, according to the press release.
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