Deep geothermal energy database

Source of funding: European Economic Area Financial Mechanism 2014-2021

Programme: Energy and Climate Change

Status:  Open from 29th March 2022 to 27th May 2022 at 12:00h CET

Type of call: Open Call for Project Proposals/ temporary

Competent authority: Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds

Call allocation: 200.000,00 EUR

Grant amount per project:  5.000,00 – 200.000,00  EUR

Project grant rate: 100%

Project duration: 12 – 18 months

The eligible applicants: any entity, public or private, commercial or non-commercial and non-governmental organization, established as a legal person in the Republic of Croatia.

The eligible partners: any public or private entity, commercial or non-commercial, and  non-governmental organization established as a legal person in donor states (Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein) or the Republic of Croatia.

Eligible area: the selected projects will be implemented in the area of the Republic of Croatia. Additionally, bilateral cooperation activities can be implemented on the territory of Donor States.

Summary

The Republic of Croatia has very favourable conditions for the usage of renewable energy (RE) sources due to its geographic position, geological setting and climate. In the Energy Development Strategy and the legislative framework on energy, the utilization of renewable energy sources (including wind, sun, water, biomass and geothermal energy) is defined of being a special national interest.

Within the Republic of Croatia, the geothermal potential was indicated by more than 25 natural thermal springs and proved by more than 4,000 deep wells drilled during oil and gas explorations undertaken in the second part of the 20th century. However, there is still no complete overview of Croatia’s geothermal potential, which slows down further developments in the field. With the development of geothermal energy technologies, this potential is increasingly becoming more interesting and there are not any justifiable reasons not to harness it.

Regarding the geological properties and geothermal potential, Croatia can be generally divided into two areas:

• Pannonian basin – the most potential region regarding geothermal energy with the average geothermal gradient commonly higher than 40°C/km which locally reaches values of more than 70°C/km while terrestrial heat-flow density ranging from 60 to over 100 mW/m2. Since the geothermal gradient in the Pannonian area is significantly higher than the European average, it is expected that new geothermal resources will be discovered.
• Dinarides – compared to Pannonian basin, this region has low geothermal potential, but it is still insufficiently explored. The geothermal gradient ranges between 10 and 30 °C/km and the terrestrial heat-flow density ranges between 20 and 60 mW/m2.

This Call for Proposals finances projects proposed by eligible Croatian public or private entities, commercial or non-commercial, as well as non-governmental organizations established as legal persons that comply and refer to the Programme focus area: Renewable Energy. The expected outcome of the projects is Increased renewable energy production which needs to be indirectly achieved by the project implementation. The expected output is strengthened capacity to manage and promote renewable energy. The projects are also expected to indirectly contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions and increased security of supply.

The Call shall support applications that are planning to develop the deep geothermal energy database. The aim of the call is to increase knowledge about deep geothermal potential in Croatia in order to facilitate a larger uptake of geothermal energy. The call shall support the establishment of a public database for deep geothermal resources in Croatia.

THE FUNDING DECISION

The Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds, in the role of the Programme Operator,  upon the completion of projects` selection within the Open Call for Project Proposals ”Deep geothermal energy production”, a total value of 200.000,00 EUR, on 22^nd September 2022 adopted the Funding Decision. Following the Funding Decision, the Project Contract will be concluded with the selected Applicant.

The Funding Decision may be found at the following link.

CALL FOR PROJECT PROPOSALS CLOSED

The Call for Project Proposals “Deep geothermal energy database” is closed for applications on 27^th May 2022 at 12.00 CET, in accordance with the provisions of the published Call.

Documents and forms