At the ceremonial opening of the first International Economic and Investment Days and the fair of development, production, and investments in the green economy ‘Greenvest: Invest in Green Croatia’, Minister of Entrepreneurship and Crafts Gordan Maras addressed the attendees, emphasizing the importance of the Government’s adoption of the draft proposal of the Energy Act.
Among other things, this concerns the amendment of the need for complete alignment with EU energy legislation, which significantly regulates the issue of supply security as well as the control of supply sources, with particular attention paid to green energy, which is encouraged in a special way.
Maras also highlighted the importance of the 20/20/20 strategy, which refers to the projected European energy goals by 2020: 20 percent renewable sources, a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, and a 20 percent increase in energy efficiency, which have, so far, only been partially incorporated into the Croatian development strategy. He added that a new space for investments is opening up precisely in the ‘green’ segment because Croatian prices are what makes it attractive to potential investors.
– Some investments are yet to be expected, while some have already begun to be realized. HEP will play an important role as an entity that will need to be able to accept and distribute such energy. The situation with HEP is now better than it has been so far. Until recently, HEP positioned itself above the regulators, thus preventing investments. This is now changing, and even I am considering installing solar panels on my house. Since it now requires two permits instead of the previous 12, the procedure is much simpler – said Maras, emphasizing the significant role of the Government in simplifying the procedure itself.
The Vice President of the Croatian Chamber of Economy, Vesna Trnokop Tanta, also noted that this is one of the foundations for creating new jobs. The goal of developing the green economy will, especially after entering the EU, be to strengthen competitiveness as well as the development of new green technologies in accordance with the ISO 14000 certification. She added that the HGK strives to actively contribute to the continuous development of green technologies precisely through such economic meetings.
Tomislav Marjanović, the director of GREENVEST, also addressed the attendees, emphasizing that this is a rapidly growing market with private sector investments worth 850 million euros, of which 650 million pertains to the projects of three wind farms. He touched on the bureaucratic problems that precede investments so that they can fully mature. At Greenvest, projects worth around 500 million euros from the private sector will be presented.
