Biggest crowdfunded solar power plant in Croatia ready to take off

“Today we are launching – as far as I know – the biggest collective investment by the local community for the energy transition in Croatia. Citizens, but also the business and public sector from the Cres-Lošinj archipelago are very interested. I assume that our solar PV project can be implementation if we obtain the necessary permits and consents by the competent public institutions”, said Dr. Ugo Toić, President of the assembly of the Croatian energy cooperative Aspyrtides at the very start of this endeavour. And he was right.

The big picture

After first successful examples of community-financed solar power plants in Croatia (Križevci Municipality, Kaštel Lukšić, etc.), the energy community virus has now spread across the coastline. Located in the scenic Cres-Lošinj archipelago surrounded by the Adriatic Sea, the Croatian energy cooperative Aspyrtides was founded last year, in 2021. With its high diversity of members, it is very unique in Croatia: it includes two municipalities, the town of Cres (3080 inh.) and the town of Mali Lošinj (8200 inh.), public institutions, associations, entrepreneurs and companies, as well as citizens. In total, it counts 29 founders, out of which 20 are citizens and 9 are legal entities. To start with, the cooperative had planned the Filozići solar power plant with a nominal power of 500kW, and an integrated solar power plant on the roof of a kindergarten in Cres.

Flashback

Months followed, during which all members of the cooperative were busy with doing the necessary feasibility studies, preparing the first documentation, and negotiating the purchase of land. One year later, in 2022, the assembly of cooperative members unanimously decided to purchase this selected land and to build the Filozići solar power plant on it.

The solar energy Filozići project in a nutshell:

• Installed power: up to 500 kW
• Annual production: 667 MWh
• Price of land: about 65,000 euros
• Total estimated costs of the investment: 648,000 euros
• 30% of upfront costs will be collected from cooperative members and other investors through a crowdfunding campaign.
• 70% of upfront costs will be covered through a loan.

Fast fundraising through the crowd

The owner of the land, Anton Jedrječić, is himself a cooperative member and the initiator of the solar project. He decided to invest 20,000 euros of the total amount as an additional cooperative share. This will make him the largest investor in this project for the time being. At the cooperative assembly, it was concluded that the necessary funds for the land purchase will be collected from current and future cooperative members. The idea: encourage the local community to invest through a crowdfunding campaign that would last two months.

Instead of the anticipated two months, crowdfunding for the Filozići solar power plant lasted only three weeks and more money was collected than expected: The campaign was intended to collect 65,000 euros from the founders and new cooperative members in the first round. Due to the outstanding interest from residents of the Cres and Lošinj archipelago and several friends from the mainland, more than 100,000 euros of additional member contributions were collected in three weeks. During the campaign, 23 new members joined, increasing the total number of members to 58.

“We have been communicating for more than a year our idea of building a solar power plant in the North of the island. We always thought we’d finance it through a joint investment by citizens and island companies. Nonetheless, we were surprised by the speed of the reaction and the great interest to invest in the project”, said the cooperative manager Franjo Toić. He concluded that “citizens clearly want to become owners of at least part of the energy consumed on the island, and the energy cooperative is one of the ways that will enable them to do so”.

As soon as all necessary funds were collected, manager Toić and land owner Jedrejčić signed a sales contract by which the cooperative became the new land owner. This was the first big step towards the installation of the solar panels.

Next steps

The road providing access to the construction site will be built soon. When it will be there depends above all on the speed at which the Croatian State will issue the necessary permits. In the meantime, this public-civil partnership is a fantastic adventure for all people and entities involved, demonstrating the power of bottom-up community engagement.  

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Fuente: ENERGY CITIES
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