Solar Roofs – City of Zagreb Program for Integrated Photovoltaic Installations

In October 2021, the City of Zagreb started the Solar Roofs Program with the aim to significantly increase its share of renewable energy production through building-integrated PV installations. The Mayor of the City of Zagreb, Mr Tomislav Tomašević, indicated the following main goals to be achieved in three years:

• Installation of at least 50 MW of building-integrated PV systems;
• Investment of at least 300 million kn (app. €40 million);
• Production of electricity of 50,000 MWh;
• Decrease CO2 emissions by 100,000 tonnes per year.

The Program has been officially adopted by the Zagreb City Assembly and the North-West Croatia Regional Energy Agency – REGEA has been nominated as the implementing coordinator of all activities.

The Project Development Services financed by ELENA will provide support for implementing a Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Investment Programme in Croatia.

REGEA will provide technical and expert support to the implementation of the Zagreb Solar Roofs Program through its ELENA PVMax project which started on 1 July 2021 and has the main objective to implement over €80 million in investments in building-integrated PV systems in Croatia. REGEA will work in close collaboration with other regional energy agencies to provide a full geographical cover of the programme.

The PVMax project has already been recognised as an important contribution to the overall Croatian energy policy at the national level by Mr Tomislav Ćorić, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, who in a joint press conference with REGEA Managing Director Mr Julije Domac, expressed his support and welcomed the activities and results to be achieved.

Through the PVMax project, REGEA is also providing support to a large number of building-integrated PV projects in all of Croatia through an open call for applications open to all public and private entities lasting until December 2022.

Building-integrated PV investment

Building-integrated PV investment concepts are in line both with the EU Green Deal and the National Energy and Climate Plans, and have been developed to address various stakeholder needs and nationwide opportunities:

1. Family houses integrated PV installation:
   a. Developed and implemented as a package by utilities, investment costs fully covered by utilities;
   b. Own investment by house owners.
2. Building-integrated PV on public and commercial buildings, the investment made by private companies and electricity sold directly to a building and/or a network.
3. Community-owned electricity suppliers as PVs integrated on buildings.
4. Energy efficiency measures related to electricity consumers in targeted buildings, in order to optimize the PV capacity and the investment allocation. The total target of the investment is the installation of at least 100 MW of PV systems (including storage as necessary). Regarding energy efficiency component, it will focus on the main electrical consumers in public and commercial buildings, such as HVAC, lighting and energy management system.

This best practice is issued from our publication Sustainable Regions in Action 2022. Read it now to discover many more best practices from FEDARENE members as well as an overview of our activities.