And road operators invest in renewable energy, the first Croatian solar highway is also announced

If the construction of sixteen photovoltaic power plants on the Zagreb – Macelj highway really begins this year, Croatia will, as announced by the relevant authorities, get its first solar highway. On this highway, as stated by the company of the same name, AZM, photovoltaic power plants will be installed – at sixteen locations where 4,408 photovoltaic modules will be placed. The total installed capacity of all photovoltaic power plants, they explain, will be two megawatts, and the total annual electricity production from solar sources will be 2.25 gigawatt-hours. Since the annual electricity consumption on this highway is 2.61 gigawatt-hours, AZM will compensate for the shortfall by purchasing from HEP. This is indeed a valuable project that will cover almost the entire electricity consumption. The total value of the construction of photovoltaic power plants and solar panels is estimated at three and a half million euros.

– The company Autocesta Zagreb – Macelj has prepared the project documentation and based on it received the appropriate approvals. The process of collecting bids and selecting contractors for the installation of photovoltaic power plants depends on securing funds, which we expect to be realized in a short time – they state.

Green Highways

Croatian Highways (HAC) has also started such activities. This company is working on developing a strategy for installing a solar photovoltaic power plant on its highway network. They want to explore the possibilities for using and installing solar power plants on the land and facilities they manage. This is a prerequisite for the implementation of the mentioned projects and they add that the strategy will be developed as part of the Agreement for advisory services under the common name ‘Green Transformation of Croatian Highways (green highways)’. This agreement was concluded with the European Investment Bank (EIB), which will provide HAC with technical assistance and consulting services in accordance with the ‘InvestEU Advisory Hub’ program managed by the European Commission.

– The goal of the project is to reduce HAC’s energy dependence by transitioning to clean energy, in line with the goals set in the National Development Strategy of the Republic of Croatia by 2030. As a company for which responsibility to the community is an important prerequisite for business, we have been applying energy efficiency in all aspects of our operations for some time, for example, as part of the digital transformation of business, which is closely linked to increasing energy efficiency and reducing harmful gas emissions, replacing gasoline/diesel vehicles with electric ones… Thus, we started the activities of developing a strategy for installing a solar photovoltaic power plant on the highway network even before signing the agreement with the EIB – they state from HAC.

That this company is not sitting idly by when it comes to the mentioned projects is also shown by the fact that HAC has already initiated the preparation of project documentation for the construction of solar power plants at a total of eight locations. Judging by the locations, the projects relate to the entire country; they are technical units in Čepin, Đakovo, Kutina, Varaždin, Ivanja Reka, Lučko, and Dugopolje, as well as HAC’s administrative building in Zagreb.

At this stage of project implementation, conceptual solutions have been developed and electricity supply approvals have been obtained. According to the plan, a public tender for the contractor will be announced by the end of June according to the design and build model. The selected contractor must prepare the main project within two months, after which they must carry out the work within five months. This investment is estimated at 1.2 million euros, and if the possibility of financing from EU funds opens up, HAC states that they will certainly apply for that money.

Accidental Pioneers

Thus, these two companies are joining the growing number of those who have invested in renewable energy sources in recent years, thereby reducing electricity consumption costs. The energy crisis in recent years has forced them to embark on these projects faster than perhaps both the public and private sectors had initially considered. However, despite all the praise for these AZM and HAC projects, these companies are not pioneers in Croatia. In fact, HAC may be, but only through the former state company Autoceste Rijeka – Zagreb (ARZ), which was merged into HAC in 2020 and thus removed from the Court Register. It was ARZ that installed solar panels on the so-called false tunnel Rastočine on the Rijeka bypass back in 2011.

This is actually a sound barrier that protects residents of nearby high-rise buildings from noise. According to the initial project, it was supposed to be eight meters high, but experts later concluded that this height would not be sufficient to withstand strong gusts of wind, so instead of such a wall, those responsible at ARZ decided to build a so-called false tunnel 352 meters long that protects residents of the high-rise buildings from noise. And then they realized that it had a roof that could be used for installing solar panels, which was done; those panels are still in operation today. As confirmed by HAC, which inherited this through the merger with ARZ, approximately one million euros have been saved thanks to the solar panels to date. Specifically, counting from 2013 (when HAC took over the maintenance of the Rijeka bypass, not ARZ), around 860 thousand euros have been generated from the produced electricity to date, so almost one million euros.

– We remind you that the primary goal of realizing the solar power plant on the Rijeka bypass was to address the issue of noise protection on that road. Since Croatian Highways were not the investor in the construction of the Rastočine tunnel, within which the solar power plant was also installed, we do not have data on the value of the investment – HAC stated in response to our question about how much that investment was worth at the time.

In these two companies that manage our highways, in addition to solar projects, they plan to continue building charging stations for electric cars.

New Charging Stations

AZM states that an electric vehicle charging station has been installed at the Zagreb – Macelj highway at the location of the accompanying service facility Lepa Bukva – east, as part of the gas station. They also add that they are working on installing such charging stations at other gas stations as well. HAC reminds that on the highway network managed by this company, there are 61 electric charging stations, and in the next two years, another 97 are in preparation, and an additional 101 in the next five years. In other words, HAC states that the plan is to have 259 electric charging stations on a network of 1,100 kilometers of highways across Croatia in five years. One of the companies offering such projects in Croatia is GreenWay Network, owned by the Slovak company GreenWay Holding. As things stand, they have not yet collaborated with HAC and AZM, which does not mean they will not. GreenWay Network board member Dino Novosel states that they will set up the first ultra-fast charging station in Croatia in collaboration with the City of Slunj.

– We can say that we have already secured the first million euros in investment. Our hiring is also going according to plan: from April we will have eight employees, experts with extensive experience in their field. In any case, implementation is proceeding according to plans and forecasts. Of course, we plan further investment in the region. For now, we can publicly confirm three contracts, with the City of Slunj, Hotel Feniks, and the company Mipcro in Ivanec; this involves four chargers. Generally, we can also say that formal contracting of an additional seven locations is expected soon, which will result in a minimum of twenty chargers, all during this year – says Novosel.

It is clear that foreign companies have also recognized the Croatian market as a potentially growing one for electric charging stations, and we can estimate that there is still enough space on our highways for market players to enter and offer their charging stations. We can say the same for solar power plants; highway managers can have additional solar projects, so this is an opportunity for market players in solar energy.