Since the beginning of the year, 48 Croatian renewable energy producers with a combined capacity of 334 MW have voluntarily left the feed-in tariff subsidy scheme, the energy market operator Hrote told Montel last week.

They account for 10 wind farms and three high-efficiency cogeneration power plants.

These renewable energy producers requested the early termination of their contracts in the last months or years of their validity, Hrote’s public relations officer Ina Volmut confirmed in an e-mailed statement.

According to data posted in Hrote’s annual report, renewable energy sources with a total capacity of 1,047 MW had been encompassed by the state support scheme by the end of 2021, including 26 wind farms with a combined capacity of 717 MW.

The guaranteed prices Hrote offers are around EUR 100/MWh, and some producers opted to enter the energy market this year after market prices had already spiked, one renewable energy expert who did not want to be named told Montel. However, he added that the Croatian government’s decision to impose a cap on electricity prices from 1 October and introduce a new profit tax might bring the trend of abandoning feed-in tariffs to an end.

The Croatian companies Professio Energia and Encro, the owners of the Zadar 2, Zadar 3 and Zadar 6 wind farms on the Adriatic coast with a combined capacity of 45 MW, are among those producers that have withdrawn from the support scheme. They concluded a power purchase agreement with Danske Commodities in August and according to a post on the Danish energy trader’s web page, it will offer them route-to-market services under a newly signed PPA.

Market power prices have been spiralling since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the end of February. Germany’s front-year power contract hit a record high of EUR 1,050/MWh at the end of August. Meanwhile, Croatia’s baseload spot prices hit a record monthly average of EUR 493.67/MWh in August amid the deepening energy crisis in Europe.

Market premium auctions

Croatia encouraged electricity generation from renewable energy sources in the 2007-2015 period with feed-in tariff agreements lasting 12 to 14 years. After that, Croatia adopted a new support mechanism according to which large-scale renewables could get market premium incentives at auctions.

The first market premium auction was organised in June this year and only 150 MW of renewables capacity participated even though the quota was for 648 MW. The Croatian branch of the Spanish renewables developer Acciona Energia was among the successful bidders with two wind farm projects with respective capacity of 45 MW and 27 MW.

Hrote did not provide Montel with any information about when the next auction is planned.