Croatia

Overall assessment

Croatia has secured funds of nearly 9.9 billion euros for its National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) within the framework of the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, of which 6.3 billion euros are non-repayable funds (12% of the Croatian GDP), and around 3.6 billion euros are favorable loans.
The plan is structured to encompass five components and one initiative:
• Economy
• Public administration, judiciary, and state property
• Education, science, and research
• Labor market and social protection
• Health
• Initiative: Building renovation
The NRRP emphasizes the importance of reforming the electricity grid. Within the economy component, which accounts for 54% of the funds, the sub-component 'Energy transition for a sustainable economy' mentions the concept of an energy community. In this subsection, it is indicated that barriers to the acceptance and distribution of larger quantities of renewable energy will be removed through reform, losses will be reduced, bottlenecks in the system will be eliminated, active buyers will be introduced along with actively managing their consumption . Additionally, citizens will be provided with the opportunity to join energy communities, all of which are prerequisites for the full implementation of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 and Directive (EU) 2019/944. However, energy communities are not singled out as separate beneficiaries with specific financial allocations.

Detailed assessment

Specific allocation for energy communities

The Croatian NRRP provides that citizens will be provided with the opportunity to join energy communities, which is a prerequisite for the full implementation of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 and Directive (EU) 2019/944. However, energy communities are not singled out as separate beneficiaries with specific financial allocations.

Regarding Renewable Energy Communities (RECs), it is indicated within sub-component C1.2 that assessment documents will be developed (including consultation with stakeholders) with recommendations to be implemented on barriers and administrative procedures that limit the use of renewable energy sources, including measures to promote energy consumption from renewable sources and RECs. The plan should have been drawn up by the Ministry by Q2/2022 and included a clear time frame and location of investments, including the designation of financial resources, however it was not.

Definition of energy communities in line with EU legislation

Although the Croatian NRRP acknowledges the EU Directives (EU)2018/2001 and Directive (EU) 2019/944, the definition isn't entirely embraced nor mentioned. This could pave the way for corporate capture and misuse of the funds.

Proportionality of share of total fund allocated to energy communities

Energy communities are not singled out as separate beneficiaries with specific financial allocations.

Availability of tailored financing tools

Under the Croatian Recovery and Resilience Plan there are no specific financing programmes dedicated to energy communities.

Link between energy communities, building renovation and energy efficiency

There is a mentioned link between loss reduction and energy reform.

Recognition of energy communities under multiple objectives

Energy communities are linked with the objectives of decarbonization and energy savings.

Holistic strategy to provide financing across different levels of project development

There is no holistic strategy in place to provide financing across different levels of project development. The project investments and stakeholder consultations' strategy has been delayed.

Transparency of the design and communication of the schemes and measures

The process of drafting the Croatian Recovery and Resilience Plan has been highly non-transparent, providing next to no space to citizens and civil society to evaluate the respective drafts and provide comments.

Selection criteria and the prioritisation of various social components

Since no specific funding calls have been announced yet, this information is not available yet.

Decentralised tender process

The Croatian Recovery and Resilience Plan is managed in an exclusively centralised manner.

Existence of procedures to facilitate the participation of energy communities in open calls

There are no relevant procedures in place (e.g., capacity building workshops/ working with network and intermediary organisations) to facilitate the participation of energy communities in the open calls of the Slovak Recovery and Resilience Fund.

Stability and predictability of the programme through time

This information is not available yet.

Inclusion of energy communities in national REPowerEU chapter

The addition of REPowerEU chapters to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan was made in September 2023, and an updated version of the plan was sent to the European Commission for approval. The approval is still pending before the new version is released, but it is currently unknown when that will happen. The updated NRRP was not published and there is no publicly available information on what it consists. More information is available in the REPowerEU tracker tab of the tracker.