HEP plans to purchase electricity from private producers

Croatia’s state-owned power utility Hrvatska Elektroprivreda (HEP) plans to purchase electricity produced in renewable energy power plants and high-efficiency cogeneration units.

Hrvatska Elektroprivreda is now the second state-owned energy company in the region looking to add suppliers, as Elektroprivreda BiH (EPBiH) from Bosnia and Herzegovina made a similar decision in August. Buying electricity from independent power producers is one of the options for such utilities to strengthen their renewable energy portfolios.

In a public call, HEP has invited legal entities and individuals to express their interest in establishing cooperation as it intends to purchase electricity from renewable electricity plants and in high-efficiency cogeneration units.

Only power plants with a capacity higher then 1 MW are eligible to apply

Eligible power plants have at least 1 MW in installed capacity.

Potential partners were asked to send a signed form prepared by HEP. The deadline for applications is March 31, according to the public call.

After preliminary evaluation, HEP will request more detailed information from qualified entities and individuals.

Interested parties should propose a date when the power purchase agreement would come into force as well as its duration

The call is open for power plants in operation and ones that are intended to be built, but the applicants need to specify when a planned facility would come online. HEP added that it expects potential suppliers to propose a date when the power purchase agreement would come into force as well as its duration.

HEP’s call is an opportunity for investment in small power plants

Unlike in HEP’s public call, the company from BiH did not limit the capacity of power plants eligible to apply, and it has allowed aggregators with virtual power plants to send applications.

Experts expect the initiative from state-owned electricity producers to purchase green energy from private power plants to encourage the construction of small facilities for distributed power generation.