Within the past six months of the STRIDE project, several novelties can be highlighted in Croatia significant in the context of smart grid development. After an extensive public discussion, in October 2021 the Croatian Parliament adopted the revision of the Electricity Market Act (OG 111/21), which leads the evolution of the electricity market in line with the EU’s directives and energy transition goals. One of the novelties of this act relates to definition of citizen energy communities and provisions that allow local energy sharing within the communities on the same low voltage distribution feeder. This provision provides an additional economic incentive for developing advanced smart energy communities in line with the smart grid paradigm in electrical distribution grid.

However, necessary by-laws still need to follow, as well as revisions of other important acts, such as Act on Renewable Energy to further foster the energy transition.

Further, citizen’s awareness on benefits of renewable energy sources and small choices that lead to more sustainable lifestyles is gaining momentum and media attention. The Good Energy Tour of the Green Energy Cooperative can be highlighted as a good example of bottom-up approach on education of the citizens and promotion of renewable energy sources.  

This momentum is further fostered by the tenders of the national Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund for renovation of households, as well as by the PVmax project for development of documentation and help for solar energy projects, led by the regional energy agency, REGEA.

STRIDE project partner UNIZG-FER in this period focused their activities on organisation of the STRIDE Interregional Workshop in September in Vienna, where the STRIDE Smart Energy Platform has been officially launched.

Additionally, UNIZG-FER’s drafts of the training materials were presented and discussed with the project partners. Further, UNIZG-FER has finished the Smart Grid Analysis of the selected region in Croatia, namely Primorsko-Goranska County and Istria County. The analysis has shown the status, as well as potential for smart grid development in the region. Finally, UNIZG-FER has prepared the strategy for the development of the STRIDE Smart Energy Platform in the coming months and beyond the duration of the project.