Technical documentation for geothermal energy

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

Programme: Energy and Climate Change 

Status:  Open from 14th September to 15th December 2021 at 12:00h CET

Type of call: Open Call for Project Proposals/ temporary

Competent authority: Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds

Call allocation: 3.000.000,00 EUR EUR

Grant amount per project:  200.000,00 – 1.300.000,00 EUR

Project grant rate: up to 85%

Project duration: 12 – 24 months

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

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

Eligible area: territorial range and place of implementation of the activities covered by technical documentation developed within the project are restricted to the continental area of Croatia (the Pannonian Basin and its marginal area). 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 sources due to its geographic position, geological setting and climate. 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.

Regarding the geological properties and geothermal potential, Croatia can be generally divided into two areas: the Pannonian basin and the Dinarides. Most geothermal resources in Croatia have a temperature ranging between 50-120°C, which allows the utilization of geothermal energy for heating purposes. The transport of thermal energy over longer distances is expensive and can at present not be economically justified, which means that utilization of geothermal energy is only feasible in the relative vicinity of the geothermal energy sources.

The Call shall support applications that are planning to develop the technical documentation for geothermal energy projects. This Call for Proposals refers to the Programme focus area: “Renewable Energy”. The projects are also expected to contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions and increased security of supply.

THE FUNDING DECISION

The Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds, in the role of the Programme Operator, upon the completion of projects` assessment and selection within the Open Call for Project Proposals “Technical documentation for geothermal energy”, a total value of 3,000,000.00 EUR, on 13^th April 2022 adopted the Funding Decision. Following the Funding Decision, the Project Contracts will be concluded with the selected Applicants.

The Funding Decision may be found at the following link.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

• Project proposals (Application forms and supporting documents) will be filled in and submitted through the customized online application system. Access to the system will be provided through a link that will be available on the Programme website on 2^nd November 2021. In the meantime, the Applicants can use the offline Application form and other documents to prepare their project proposals.
• All questions related to the Call shall be sent to the e-mail address energija@mrrfeu.hr, with a clear reference to the Call. The answers will be published on the Programme website  no later than 7 calendar days before the deadline for submission of project proposals.

LAUNCHING OF THE ONLINE APPLICATION SYSTEM POSTPONED

The launching of the Online application system announced for the 29^th November 2021 has been postponed due to technical reasons.

In the meantime, the Applicants have at their disposal the offline Application Form available in the Call documentation, which can be used to prepare project proposals prior to their online submission.

The information on the launching date of the Online application system will be available on the Programme’s web page in the scope of the First Corrigendum to the documentation of the Call for Proposals in the following days.

THE FIRST CORRIGENDUM TO CALL DOCUMENTATION

The Programme Operator of the  “Energy and Climate Change” Programme publishes the First Corrigendum to documentation of the Call for Proposals “Technical documentation for geothermal energy” published on the 14^th September 2021.

The following documents are amended by the First Corrigendum:

• CALL FOR PROJECT PROPOSALS
• FORM 1) APPLICANT/PROJECT PARTNER DECLARATION
• RELEVANT DOCUMENT 3) ADMINISTRATIVE AND ELIGIBILITY COMPLIANCE ASSESSMENT FORM
• FORM 6) DECLARATION ON THE LEGAL STATUS OF REAL ESTATE TO BE AFFECTED BY THE PROJECT INFRASTRUCTURAL ACTIVITIES

The amendments to the documents become effective as of the day of their publication on the web page of the „Energy and Climate Change Programme“.

In case of any discrepancies between the Croatian and the English version of the documents, the Croatian version is the one that prevails.

1. Corrigendum 1_documentation.zip

ONLINE APPLICATION SYSTEM LAUNCHED

The online application system is open for the submission of applications from 29^th November to 15^th December 2021 at 12:00h CET.

Access to the online application system is ensured via link https://ekp.mrrfeu.hr/.

ONLINE APPLICATION SYSTEM CLOSED

The online application system is closed on 15^th December 2021 at 12:00h CET for the submission of applications in the scope of the Call for Proposals “Technical documentation for geothermal energy“.

DOCUMENTS AND FORMS

1. Applicant’s/Partner’s Declaration (Form 1)
2. Communication Plan (Form 2)
3. Partnership Statement (Form 3)
4. De minimis Aid Declaration (Form 4)
5. Declaration on the category of an enterprise (Form 5)
6. Declaration on the legal status of real estate to be affected by the project infrastructural activities (Form 6)

1. Draft of the Project Contract
2. Draft of the Partnership Agreement
3. Administrative and eligibility compliance Assessment Form
4. Quality Assessment Form
5. State Aid Scheme for the Implementation of the Programme “Energy and Climate Change”
6. De minimis Scheme for the Implementation of the Programme “Energy and Climate Change”