Visit of the delegation of the Financial Mechanism Office and the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate under the Energy and Climate Change Programme

The Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds, as the Programme Operator of the Energy and Climate Change Programme financed from the European Economic Area (EEA) Financial Mechanism 2014-2021, hosted the delegation of the Financial Mechanism Office and the Norwegian Directorate for Water Resources and Energy, which is also a donor partner in the Energy and Climate Change Programme.

In the period from 5 to 7 February 2024, delegation members, Ms. Gunn Oland, representative of the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate, and Ms. Camilla Langsholt, representative of the Financial Mechanism Office, together with the Programme Operator and the Programme Partner (Energy Institute Hrvoje Požar), carried out a number of activities, with the aim of informing the donor partners about the achievements so far in the implementation of both projects, and Programme itself. For this purpose, in the period from 5 to 6 February 2024, six field visits to projects were organized in the final phase of implementation. During the visit, concrete results were presented and meetings were held with Project promoters in the cities of Velika Gorica, Lipik, Virovitica and Bjelovar, as well as in the municipalities of Topusko and Andrijaševci. At the meetings, among other things, there were discussions about the challenges the Project promoters are facing in the implementation of the projects, as well as the possibilities of capitalizing the results of individual projects in the future.

The field visit began in the City of Velika Gorica with the presentation of the project “Velika Gorica Solar City – COUNTDOWN”, within which 22 solar power plants for the production of electricity from solar energy were installed on public buildings in the administrative area of the City of Velika Gorica – primary schools, kindergartens, social homes, sports facilities, etc., with the aim of increasing solar energy production capacity and consequently increasing the share of renewable energy sources in electricity consumption and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Then Topusko was visited, where the implementation of the project “Topusko smart thermal city” was presented. Within the project, a technical documentation for geothermal energy was developed, all in order to enable the long-term sustainable development of the Municipality of Topusko based on the use of renewable sources of geothermal water and related energy and the reduction of CO2 emissions.

The first day of the field visit was completed in the City of Lipik with the presentation of the project “Preparation of technical documentation for the Lipik exploration area”. The aim of the project is to determine the real geothermal potential of the exploration area “Lipik”, in order to use it for heating of existing public facilities in the city of Lipik, as well as potentially used for the purpose of economic development.

The second day began with a visit to the Municipality of Andrijaševci and presented the project “Solar roofs in the Municipality of Andrijaševci, Stari Jankovci and the Municipality of Privlaka”. As part of the project, 11 solar power plants were installed on public buildings in the municipalities of Andrijaševci, Stari Jankovci and Privlaka. The aim of the project is to increase the production of solar energy, as well as to strengthen the capacity to manage and promote the use of renewable energy sources (RES).

Then a meeting was held with the Project Leader city of Virovitica, where the project “Solar Roofs for Green Virovitica” was presented, whose goal is to increase the production of electricity from solar energy in public sector facilities. In order to achieve the set goal, 7 solar power plants were installed on the roofs of institutions founded by the City of Virovitica.

The second day of the field visit ended in the city of Bjelovar with the presentation of the project “Increased geothermal energy production capacity – infrastructural activities at the drillhole Korenovo GT-1”. The aim of the project is to carry out infrastructural works (construction, oil and mining) on the Korenovo GT-1 well with the aim of exploiting geothermal energy for the needs of the City of Bjelovar.

Following the field visit to the projects, on the third day of February 7, 2024, a visit to the predefined project “Establishment of the national training center for nearly Zero Energy Buildings (nZEB)” was held, i.e. the building of the Energy Institute Hrvoje Požar (EIHP) in Zagreb, where works are underway for the deep renovation of the existing office building up to nZEB standards. Works that are ongoing to achieve nZEB standards relate to construction and craft works, works of replacement of lighting systems, automation and control, works of replacing equipment in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, and construction of a photovoltaic power plant. The training center started its work as an online platform, with about 70 experts undergoing education through 7 modules on the importance of nZEB. After the complete renovation of the building, the training center will continue its work in the EIHP building, which will be aligned with the nZEB standard.

After visiting the EIHP building, the seventh Cooperation Committee meeting was held in the premises of the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds with donor representatives and other Program Partners, as a regular monitoring of the dynamics of the implementation of the Energy and Climate Change Programme.