Largest Croatian Solar Power Plant to Cover 100,000 Homes

The largest Croatian power plant, SE Korlat, will cost a massive 70 million euros and cover 100,000 homes across the country.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/VL/Ivica Beti writes, the largest Croatian solar power plant seems likely to change the country’s relationship with this energy efficient form of power for good.

Land is currently being prepared for the imminent start of construction of the largest Croatian solar power plant, SE Korlat, at a location near Benkovac in Zadar County. The total investment value stands at around 70 million euros, and the power plant will, according to HEP, start operating next year.

With a capacity of 75 megawatts and an expected annual production of 165 million kilowatt hours, the largest Croatian solar power plant will form the Korlat Renewable Hybrid Energy Park. Together with the existing Korlat wind power plant, it will meet the electricity needs of as many as 100,000 households.

The construction of the largest Croatian solar power plant is being financed by loans contracted with the EBRD and the European Investment Bank, secured by government guarantees. During the next phase, a battery energy storage system and a new solar power plant with an installed capacity of 40 megawatts will be installed at the aforementioned location.

At the end of last year, HEP opened another solar power plant construction site on the island of Unije. That plant will significantly cover the island’s electricity needs. In addition to the solar power plant, the construction of a battery tank is also being considered, which would accumulate excess production.

In addition to Korlat and Unije, six other HEP solar power plant construction sites are currently active. The closest to the start of regular operation is the five-megawatt Jambrek solar power plant, built near Vinica in Varaždin County. The 8.5-megawatt Črnkovci solar power plant, located in the business zone of the Marijanci municipality near Donji Miholjac, will also soon begin trial operation. This is the first of 20 power plants being constructed on the basis of a cooperation agreement that HEP has concluded with various local government units.

According to the same business model, the construction of the five-megawatt Lipik solar power plant is also underway. The Radosavci solar power plant, with a connected capacity of 9.9 megawatts in Slatina, is now complete except for the grid connection. In addition, the 10 megawatt Dugopolje and 8.5 megawatt Čakovec power plants are also under construction. The first nine power plants from the new investment cycle, in which HEP will install 108 new integrated solar power plants on the roofs of its buildings, are also under construction. So far, 65 such power plants are in operation.

All of this is being implemented in accordance with HEP’s wider (and ambitious) development strategy for the period up to 2030 with a view to 2050. In accordance with EU goals, HEP plans to decarbonise its entire business portfolio by that time. Around 70 percent of HEP’s electricity production comes from sources that do not emit carbon dioxide already.

As an interim goal, HEP intends to increase the share of renewable sources in the production portfolio by 50% by 2030. In years with average hydrological conditions, the hope is to increase annual production from renewable sources from 6 to 9 billion kilowatt-hours compared to the base year of 2017.

Despite intensive investments in solar and wind power, in the coming period the most important renewable sources in HEP’s system will be hydropower plants. When it comes to these plants, HEP has invested a little over a third of its planned 600 million euros in reconstruction and revitalisation. The result of this investment cycle will be far more efficient production and an increase in the total capacity of 12 hydropower plants by 180 megawatts, as well as annual production by as much as 350 million kilowatt-hours.

The first phase of the revitalization of the Senj HPP is now nearing completion, and projects for the revitalisation of the Varaždin HPP, the Rijeka HPP and the Orlovac HPP are in preparation. In 2025, the construction of the Drežničko Polje Retention Plant will also finally begin. Of the projects for the construction of new hydroelectric power plants, the most important is the expansion of the Senj Hydropower System (HES Kosinj and HE Senj 2). With a total increase in capacity of 412 megawatts and investments of around 500 million euros, this is HEP’s largest project since Croatia’s hard-earned independence.

The construction of the small Otočac hydroelectric power plant, with a capacity of 1.5 megawatts, is also underway in Lika. In addition, the construction of the smaller Peruća hydroelectric power plant is being planned. In the future, energy storage will need to be ensured to accommodate excess energy from renewable sources, and HEP is developing these activities in three directions, which include reversible hydroelectric power plants, battery storage and green hydrogen.

In addition to the largest Croatian solar power plant, the most significant project is the Blaca Reversible Hydropower Plant, with a designed capacity of around 500 megawatts. The Vinodol pumped-storage hydroelectric power plant project with a capacity of around 150 megawatts is also currently being developed. The documentation for seven battery energy storage projects is now being prepared, and several hydrogen electrolyser projects are also in the works at the locations of existing thermal power plants.

Of the HEP Group’s largest investment plan to date, with more than 800 million euros in 2025, over 500 million euros relate to investments in electricity transmission and distribution activities. A significant portion of those investments will be co-financed with grants from Croatia’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (NPOO).