INSTEAD OF GAS - ADRIATIC: INCENTIVES ARE ARRIVING FOR INSTALLATION OF SEA ENERGY HEATING

SIGNIFICANT POTENTIAL In the first phase, subsidies of EUR 1.5 million are offered to interested investors

By the end of August this year, the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds will announce the first call for incentives for energy production projects from the sea since the withdrawal of money from European Union funds.

Production of energy from the sea using waves, tides, as well as special heat pumps with sea water, is in its infancy in the European Union, but, along with wind farms, solar and hydrogen, is recognized as one of the solutions in the current EU green transition.

Significant potential

- The Republic of Croatia has significant potential for the development of renewable energy sources, especially for the application of seawater technologies. One of the solutions that could be especially applicable to Croatia, due to the long coast, refers to seawater heat pump systems or SDTMV systems - it is stated in the proposal of the public invitation of the Ministry of Regional Development and EU funds, which decided at this stage to encourage the production of energy from the sea to support only the projects of heat pumps with sea water. Namely, although there are several mentioned technologies in the range of energy production from the sea, the state estimated that the most interest could be for cranes, ie, as stated in the invitation, for the installation of heating and cooling systems using heat pumps from offshore energy.

- Since the level of development of marine technologies in Croatia is not high, only SDTMV will be taken into account, crane systems that provide a generally stable and continuous source of heating and cooling with seawater that acts as a stable and reliable heat source and abyss. Although there may be high investment costs, the position of the Ministry of Regional Development and EU funds is that the pilot project should be investigated. In any case, according to the content of the call, it is expected that municipalities and coastal cities, among others, could apply with the associated projects.

- The published call for project proposals shows that the potential and interest for energy production from the sea exists, but even in this case it is not a systematic solution - said an expert from the Department of Power Plants and Energy Zagreb Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture Goran Krajacic. According to Krajačić, systematic solutions, says our interlocutor from the FESB, include facilitating the installation of plants through, clearly defining concessions and concession fees for seawater interventions or facilitating the preparation of environmental impact studies for certain standard solutions.

- The application of high-power heat pump systems for the use of sea energy that would heat and cool large centralized heating systems as is present in the world's metropolises would certainly give the best results. However, until the line ministries, city authorities and other institutions turn to encouraging such solutions, the announced call for the promotion of individual systems is a very useful tool for promoting clean energy - concludes Krajačić. Asked where Croatia is in relation to other EU member states in terms of production from marine energy, our interlocutor from the Zagreb FESB draws attention to the fact that a number of plants of this type from Istria to Dubrovnik were built in the 1980s.

- Successful application has been shown in the hotels Le Meridien Lav from Podstrana, Parentium from Poreč as well as the Rector's Palace in Dubrovnik, and the built-in solutions are followed by those in other EU countries and the world. The opening of the plant in the hospital complex of Thalassotherapy from Crikvenica is expected very soon - says Krajačić. Speaking about the projects aimed at the exploitation of marine energy that are underway, he points out the BLUE DEAL or COAST ENERGY projects, which, he notes, indicate the interest of scientific research institutions and investors in marine thermal energy projects.

- The modular design of the plant enables the use for heating and cooling of family houses, hotels, hospitals, sports complexes and buildings of cultural heritage and public purposes - Krajačić notes.

According to available data, the technology of production from sea energy is already used in several locations along the coast, and currently its application, among others, is being done by the Istrian Regional Energy Agency (IRENA) in cooperation with the City of Poreč. This is a project to install a system of heat pumps with sea water for the building of the Poreč city administration. In the immediate vicinity of the building, according to IRENA, there are several other public buildings that can be connected to the common circuit of sea water distribution as the main source of heat and thus build an environmentally neutral and financially efficient heating and cooling system in Porec.

- The project is entering the last implementation phase, in which the project technical documentation is to be prepared, which will include the reconstruction of the existing heating and cooling system on conventional fuels, a system with a heat pump - the Poreč City Administration told us, announcing that in completing this investment it will also rely on the available co-financing mechanisms, both national and European Union funds. When asked how they decided to apply production from marine energy, the city administration of Porec said that the building is located next to the sea, but, they add, has the status of protection as part of the cultural and historical ensemble of the City of Porec. - The building of the city palace is an ideal candidate for the preparation of project technical documentation for the installation of renewable energy sources, sea water / water heat pumps with this project. The City of Poreč, in cooperation with IRENA, continues to build cooperation, improve quality and constructive dialogue with representatives of the conservation profession, and this time with the help of sea energy, the so-called 'blue energy' seeks to increase energy efficiency in cultural heritage buildings - noted in Poreč city administration.

In addition to coastal city and municipal administrations, marine energy production technology, judging by the experiences from Italy presented at the IRENA meetings, could use ports and marinas with the option of delivering surplus energy to the grid. In the case of the port of Ancona, according to the same source, it is planned to install 50 devices that would occupy 200 m of the coastline. The investment worth 670 thousand euros would have a payback period of nine years with an annual production of 670 thousand kilowatt hours of electricity.

In any case, one and a half million euros are available to interested domestic scientists and investors in the mentioned call, with a minimum (200 thousand euros) and maximum withdrawal limits of 1.3 million euros per project. The share that the state is willing to co-finance in the total project budget varies from 50 percent for small to 30 percent for large entrepreneurs.

A three years deadline

- Successfully implemented pilot projects for the production of energy from the sea would also increase the capacity and skills of suppliers and developers and consequently contribute to lower costs of SDTMV installations in the future - the Ministry's invitation states.

The project preparation, promotion and management are co-financed, and it is planned that the corresponding contracts on the projects that received co-financing will be signed in May next year at the latest, with the obligation to use the withdrawn money by April 2024.