HEP Group said its Operator of Distribution System (HEP ODS) is investing more than HRK 500 million (EUR 66.8 million) in coastal areas aimed at contributing to Croatian tourism. The investments will allow for a significantly more secure supply of consumers on the Adriatic coast, as during the summer months their number is growing, the government-owned power utility said in a statement.

Unit Elektroistra Pula has completed its major investment project in Pazin in Istria peninsula, in the country’s west. The endeavour is worth nearly EUR 4.7 million and annual investment of EUR 2.7 million is for the replacement of obsolete equipment in order to achieve greater security of supply and reduce losses, the statement said.

In the Elektroprimorje Rijeka distribution area, the company carried out its long-term project Rijeka, worth more than EUR 20 million, which will soon enter its fourth phase. After EUR 400,000 was spent on a submarine cable between the islands of Mali Lošinj and Ilovik, the entire sector excluding the city of Rijeka will be powered with 20 kV voltage.

Elektrolika Gospić, which operates in central Croatia, faces natural disasters almost every year. Since 2015 it invested nearly EUR 5.3 million to improve the quality of supply to customers, HEP said. It is also implementing a EUR 1.7 million project of the reconstruction of substations Biluća and Novalja.

Elektra Zadar, covering an area in the southern region of Dalmatia, will this year invest nearly EUR 8 million. Before the summer season an interpolation of new substations in many coastal villages and cities was made. The flagship utility noted it reconstructed substations in Obrovac, Zadar and Privlaka.

During the preparation of this year’s tourist season, unit Elektra Šibenik, which operates farther in the south, invested EUR 2.2 million. Elektrodalmacija Split, which covers an area of Split-Dalmatia County and a part of Dubrovnik-Neretva County south of the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, invests EUR 4.8 million in the network to strengthen supply.

Back in 2010 in distribution area Elektrojug Dubrovnik in the country’s far south, project Dubrovnik was launched. It was one of the largest joint ventures in the system of HEP ODS and the Croatian Transmission System Operator (HOPS) in the last 10 years, with total value of EUR 67 million. Works included installing two large substations – Plat and Srđ. Separately, in the old town, a new transformer station was built to enable the transition to 20 kV.