4.4 MW solar PV plant replaces landfill in north Croatia

The concessionaire completed its 4.4 MW photovoltaic facility on the site of a former landfill in Gornji Kneginec in Croatia’s far north, the local authority said.

Municipal authorities in Croatia including the capital city of Zagreb are stepping up efforts on the energy transition front. Among other segments, they recognize the potential of landfills and of different types of waste. Projects and investments are piling up but the Municipality of Gornji Kneginec in Varaždin county is a rare example, even in entire Southeastern Europe, where the construction of a solar power plant on a former municipal solid waste landfill has already been completed.

Scientists, activists and farmers across Europe and beyond have increasingly been warning that agricultural land and protected areas aren’t suitable for renewable energy plants. They are pointing to the vast potential of roofs and degraded and polluted surfaces.

The concession deal was signed in 2021

Gornji Kneginec, located in Croatia’s far north, signed an agreement in 2021 with Prokon from Varaždin, giving the green light to the company to build, use and maintain a PV plant of 4.4 MW in peak capacity. It is located in the southern part of the former landfill. The land was remediated.

The investor got a thirty-year concession. The site, owned by the municipality, spans six hectares. Municipality chief Goran Kaniški said the solar power plant would be connected to the grid by the end of the year.

Operators of some municipal solid waste landfills in the region are collecting landfill gas for energy use and to prevent fires. Solar power plants have so far mostly been built on mining waste landfills while investors are also eyeing industrial waste sites.