Laws on Renewable Energy Sources and Energy Efficiency Submitted to Parliament for First Reading

The government on Thursday submitted to the Croatian Parliament for first reading proposals for amendments to the laws on renewable energy sources (RES) and energy efficiency, aimed at further liberalizing the electricity market, promoting the use of energy from renewable sources, and achieving savings in its consumption.

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State Secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Energy Ivo Milatić reported that the proposal for amendments to the law on renewable energy sources and high-efficiency cogeneration was initiated to enable further liberalization of the electricity market in Croatia, in order to achieve a balance between the interests of electricity suppliers on one hand, and the sustainability of the feed-in tariff system for electricity produced from renewable energy sources on the other.

“The proposed law stipulates the obligation of electricity suppliers to purchase a certain share expressed as a percentage of the net delivered electricity from privileged electricity producers, while the remaining share of the total net delivered electricity from privileged producers would be sold by the Croatian electricity market operator on the electricity market,” Milatić stated.

Furthermore, these amendments and supplements further align national legislation with the EU directive on the quality of petrol and diesel fuels and the amendment of the EU directive on promoting the use of energy from renewable sources.

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“This proposed law will enable faster development of solar photovoltaic power plants in households, a more transparent public tender process, legal protection and control of the legality of the conducted tender for the allocation of market premiums and tenders for promoting guaranteed total prices, as well as generally clearer and more precise procedures of public legal entities, as well as rights and obligations arising from these laws,” Milatić emphasized.

Regarding the proposal for amendments to the law on energy efficiency, Milatić stated that its drafting was initiated to establish a mechanism that will achieve energy savings in immediate energy consumption within set deadlines.

He reminded that the Republic of Croatia, in the National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency, committed to applying a combined approach, meaning that part of the savings would be achieved through a system of mandatory energy-saving measures, and part through alternative energy-saving measures.

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“Therefore, this proposed law introduces mandatory energy-saving measures among end consumers defined by the EU directive on energy efficiency, all in order to achieve the adopted energy savings targets in final consumption in the Republic of Croatia by the end of 2020,” Milatić concluded.