Due to the untimely actions of the ruling party, Croatia could be left without biogas

The biogas sector has been in a significant crisis for the past few months, which representatives of the Croatian Biogas Producers Association (HUPB) Marijan Cenger, Emil Guščić, and Ante Topalović discussed today at a press conference.

As they pointed out, about ten years ago, Croatia began encouraging investments in biogas plants with the aim of achieving a green transition and energy independence. However, this initiative functioned for a certain period, and electricity production was sustainable, but due to market turmoil and the energy crisis caused by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, problems have arisen that have been warned about for some time.

Due to the untimely actions of the state, Cenger claims, electricity production from biogas plants has decreased by more than 50 percent.

– On February 8, we held a meeting of the Croatian Biogas Producers Association where we made three concrete proposals to save the entire sector – said Cenger, emphasizing that 42 Croatian biogas plants can produce 400 thousand megawatts of electricity, which is equivalent to 110 households, and today that number is only about 50 percent.

The first proposal is to exempt biogas plants from the Regulation adopted on December 29 last year, following the example of other European countries, which the Regulation itself allows in several articles. Association representatives believe that the content of the Regulation is discriminatory because production costs vary depending on the type, as solar power plants do not pay for any raw materials while the prices of raw materials for biogas plants have nearly doubled. Therefore, HUPB is seeking a variable supplement depending on the price of resources, considering that the price of silage has increased by 130 percent compared to 2021.

No pursuit of excess profit

The second proposal is to regulate the price within HROTE, about which two meetings have been held in the past two months, but no concrete response has yet been received.

– During those two months where time is working exclusively against us, there has been a 30 percent decrease in production – said HUPB president Marijan Cenger, emphasizing that if this situation continues, 70 percent of biogas plants will shut down by summer.

They have repeatedly pointed out that the price cap on electricity at 180 euros per megawatt hour is unacceptable and that, according to their calculations, around 310 euros would be needed, which they proposed at the meetings, but there is still no response.

The third proposal is related to power plants that have exited the HROTE system and now wish to return. As Guščić stated, the response the association received was: ‘Cannot’ and this is due to formal-legal reasons. Simply put, the law does not allow it.

– We did not exit out of a desire for excess profit, we are not electricity traders, we are electricity producers, but we were presented with the opportunity, in October when it was a matter of life or death, to enter the market and thus preserve production – explained Guščić, adding that ‘the law does not allow it’ is not an answer because the ruling party is there to supplement and change the laws.

It is certainly important to mention that Austria, for example, has allowed the return of its bioelectric plants to the system, and by such a refusal, the state is practically renouncing its own facilities. Emphasizing that energy is a strategic matter for the state, if something urgent is not done, Croatia will have to say goodbye to its dreams of energy independence and will be left without biogas.