On Wednesday, December 21, 2022, at Zagreb's Utrina swimming pool, a press conference was held on the occasion of the announcement of public procurement within the project "Solarization of institutions of the City of Zagreb - SOLIZAG" for the procurement of equipment, installation and commissioning of solar power plants at eight facilities of the City of Zagreb in total with a power of 1.43 MW. The public procurement was announced on December 1, 2022, the deadline for the submission of offers is December 27, 2022, and the total estimated value is HRK 7,047,000.00
"One of the conditions is that the solar power plants will be in operation by the end of 2023. The power plants will be installed on the roofs of the Utrina, Svetice and Jelkovec swimming pools, the Trnsko Kindergarten, the Sveti Ivan Psychiatry Clinic, the Trešnjevka 1 and 2 Elderly Homes and the Čistoće branch facility - SOC Jakuševac." - pointed out Tatjana Operta, head of the City Office for Economy, Environmental Sustainability and Strategic Planning of the City of Zagreb. She added that the SOLIZAG project aims to increase the use of renewable energy sources in institutions and real estate owned or founded by the City of Zagreb and at the location of the Podruznica Čistoće property, which is part of Zagreb holding d.o.o.
"The SOLIZAG project directly addresses the problem of dependence on supply and the rising costs of electricity in real estate that are the subject of infrastructure activities. The project also directly contributes to the achievement of the national goals described in the Energy Development Strategy of the Republic of Croatia until 2030 with a view to 2050, the Long-Term Strategy for the Renewal of the National Building Fund until 2050, the Low-Carbon Development Strategy of the Republic of Croatia until 2030 with a View to 2050 and other national strategies and plans related to energy efficiency and adaptation to climate change", explained Ivan Divić on behalf of the Ministry of Regional Development and European Union Funds.
Velimir Šegon, deputy director of the Regional Energy Agency of Northwestern Croatia (REGEA), emphasized that the construction of solar power plants through eight pilot projects will reduce the carbon footprint by 222 tCO2/year, and the share of green energy in the total consumption of the properties in question will be 18%. The implementation of eight pilot projects will increase the use of energy from renewable sources by 1400 MWh.
The SOLIZAG project was financed by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area (EEA) for the period 2014-2021. within the Energy and Climate Change Program. The project applicant is the City of Zagreb, and the national partner is Zagrebački holding d.o.o. In addition to the national partner, a partner from the donor country (Norway), the Energy Farm International Foundation, also participates in the project. In July 2022, an agreement was signed between the program manager of the Ministry of Regional Development and European Union funds and the City of Zagreb on the allocation of grants for the project "Solarization of the City of Zagreb's institutions - SOLIZAG" which is financed from the EEA financial mechanism. Before the implementation of the measures provided for in this project proposal, the annual consumption of electricity (2019) in the mentioned properties amounts to almost 7,600 MWh.
