Great response from citizens and interest in solar power plants

Free educational workshop for citizens

Great response from citizens and interest in solar power plants

Great response from citizens and interest in solar power plants

A free educational workshop recently organized by the Town of Porec-Parenzo and the Sunny office in cooperation with the Green Energy Cooperative (ZEZ) sparked great interest from the citizens. The topic was „How to get your own Solar Power Plant?“. The educational workshop was aimed at citizens and anyone who want to know key information about solar power plants for households, including installation costs, administrative and technical steps to a rooftop solar power plant, how to calculate electricity, electricity calculation from a solar power plant, but also issues related to solar power plants on residential buildings, and changes in the legal framework that took place in 2023, more beneficial for citizens.

Citizens, who filled the room to the last seat, asked many questions and received specific answers from experts on the topic. The educational workshop was held by the team of experts from the Green Energy Cooperative (ZEZ), a leading organization in the field of urban energy in Croatia. ZEZ has held similar workshops in over 30 Croatian cities and provides daily support to citizens and companies throughout Croatia in installing solar power plants through the service „Na suncanoj strani“ (engl. „On the sunny side“).

The educational workshop is part of the activities of the project „Good energy - Solar energy for energy transition“. The Town of Porec-Parenzo and the Green Energy Cooperative (ZEZ) are one of the project partners. The project "Good energy - Solar Energy for Energy Transition" is funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the European Economic Area (EEA) Financial Mechanism 2014-2021 with the national co-funding of the Republic of Croatia in the amount of 1.1 million EUR in grants under the "Energy and Climate Change" Program.

At the beginning of the workshop, the gathered were welcomed by Deputy Mayor Elio Stifanic, who thanked the citizens for their response and the speakers, and announced that the Porec Sunny office will stay open for citizens' questions and technical support after the project "Balkan Solar Roofs" ends.

We remind you that after the Porec Sunny office opened its doors to citizens at the beginning of the year, it continues to provide free technical support, education and promotion of renewable energy development projects in the Porec area. The Sunny office is located at the address Pionirska 1, 2nd floor. Office hours for citizens are on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., and on Tuesdays from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., upon mandatory appointment for consultation via the email address: suncani.ured@porec.hr.

The number of solar power plants in Croatia is rapidly increasing. With a solar power plant on the family house roof it is possible to reduce annual electricity costs by up to 85%. At the same time, the same solar power plant maintains its maximum efficiency for a period of 20 years, and can continue to produce electricity long after. The return of the financial resources invested in the installation of the solar power plant, depending on the amount of savings over a period of between 6 and 8 years, without incentives. With incentives, the investment return period can be further accelerated, and almost halved.

The Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund (FZOEU), responsible for opening the public tender for annual national incentives on solar power plants, has published a new public call which will end within this year. The public call conditions are open for the end of 2023, and the submission of applications for the first quarter of 2024. As mentioned, this is the right time to inform citizens about the conditions and process of solar power plants implementation, as well as to submit an application for a public tender.