Croatia's renewable energy potential

• Official Name: Republic of Croatia.

Summary: Croatia has poor domestic reserves of fossil fuels but is potentially a transit country for oil, natural gas, and electricity. The country has good potential for renewable sources, including hydropower, wind, geothermal, and solar energy.

Croatia is a parliamentary republic in central Europe. The modern state declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, followed by a four-year war of independence; though the Croats had arrived in central Europe as part of the great migration of Slavs in the seventh century and maintained a sovereign Kingdom of Croatia for some centuries, Croatia joined with Hungary in 1102 and spent most of the next 900 years ruled by various foreign powers. Today, Croatia is a high-income emerging economy with high life expectancy, literacy, education, and standards of living compared to other central European nations. It is a member of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the World Trade Organization, and the Central European Free Trade Association, and an acceding state of the European Union (EU), with full membership granted in 2013. The economy, which is partially controlled by the state, is dominated by the service sector, including seasonal tourism.

Though economically robust, Croatia has been slow to develop a long-term energy and energy security policy, even by the standards of its central European neighbors. It has shown progress in liberalizing its markets and privatizing the energy sector. Energy efficiency features prominently in national energy policy, as do regional cooperation and independence, thanks in part to recent international agreements. In 2002, Croatia was one of many countries involved in the founding of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP), a nongovernmental organization currently based in Austria. REEEP collaborates with several research institutions, including Yale and Warwick University, to work with governments such as Croatia’s to help establish policy and program priorities and to formulate laws and legislation to best meet renewable energy and energy efficiency goals. REEEP also works with the G8 group as its agent in promoting energy-efficient building design, regulations, and other policy initiatives that encourage such design.

In 2005, the EU and the countries of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, and Romania signed the Energy Community Treaty, which established a legal framework for an integrated European market for gas and electricity. Croatia, with the rest of the non-EU countries, was asked to create a regional energy market that would fit the framework of the EU’s Internal Energy Market, with relevant acquis communautaire on energy, environment, and competition. It was the first legally binding agreement signed by the former Yugoslav states since the wars of independence, and was designed to enhance investment opportunities and regulatory control of the energy sector to mutual benefit. Though there have been new investments in the mining and metallurgy sectors as a result, they have been slowed by the subsequent global financial crisis.

According to the International Trade Administration, in 2023, Croatia's primary energy consumption was 102.8 Terrawatt hours (TWh). Renewable energy only accounted for 30 percent, most coming from large hydropower plants. According to the World Factbook, in 2023, of the country's energy, 48.5 percent came from hydropower, 31.2 percent from fossil fuels, 14.8 percent from wind power, 3.7 percent from biomass and waste, and 1.7 percent from solar power. In 2023, Croatia imported nearly half the energy it consumed.

In 2020, Croatia's government adopted a new energy strategy from 2020 to 2030 that included energy policy initiatives to improve energy security and lower its dependence on fossil fuels. It set goals of renewable energy accounting for 34.6 percent of its energy consumption by 2030 and 65.6 percent by 2050. The government also planned to spend $1.4 billion to modernize the country's grid.

As of 2024, there were no nuclear power plants in Croatia, but the state co-owned the Krsko Nuclear Power Plant with Slovenia; it was built during the Yugoslav era and served communities in both countries. Croatia had oil reserves of about 71 million barrels and natural gas reserves of 24.92 billion cubic feet. The Adria oil pipeline, commissioned in 1990, carried crude oil to Croatia as well as Hungary and several of the former Yugoslav states.

Bibliography

"Croatia." World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 17 Sept. 2025, www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/croatia/. Accessed 24 Sept. 2025.

"Energy: Croatia." International Trade Administration, 20 Aug. 2025, www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/croatia-energy. Accessed 24 Sept. 2025.

U.S. Energy Information Administration. “Country Analysis Brief: Croatia.” 205.254.135.24/countries/country-data.cfm?fips=HR. Accessed 24 Sept. 2025.

Vuk, Branko, et al. “Annual Energy Report: Energy in Croatia 2009.” Ministry of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship Republic of Croatia.