A €37 million wind power plant, a project of the Slovenian energy company Petrol, with a capacity to produce electricity for more than 30,000 households, was officially inaugurated near Knin on Tuesday.

The Ljubac wind power plant, consisting of nine wind turbines with a total capacity of some 30 megawatts, is expected to produce around 96-gigawatt hours of energy annually, it was said at the opening of the plant.

The plant, whose trial run was launched last August, obtained an operating licence and status of a preferred producer in April this year. This is the first project of the Petrol Group in the field of production of power from renewable energy sources without financial support and subsidies.

Apart from Ljubac, in 2017 Petrol launched near Sibenik the Glunca wind power plant with nine turbines, each with a capacity of 2.3 megawatts, which is sufficient to meet the needs of around 15,000 average households.

Petrol Management Board President Nada Drobne-Popovic said that Croatia was a second home to the company, recalling last year’s acquisition of the Crodux petrol distributor.

She said that Petrol wanted to become a leading supplier of fuel and sustainable energy solutions in Croatia and that by 2025 its scope of business operations in Croatia was expected to exceed that in Slovenia.

Drobne-Popovic said that last year the company’s net profit amounted to €124 million, with 35% of all investments referring to green and energy transition.

Petrol Management Board member Joze Bajuk said that compared to Slovenia, Croatia had much greater natural potential for the development of renewable energy sources, notably sun and wind energy, and that the company was looking for new acquisitions in Croatia, notably highly developed projects.

Bajuk announced further investments in the amount of €17 million in three big solar power plants in the area of Knin, which are expected to produce 29 GWh of electricity and should start operating in early 2023.

Crodux Derivati Dva director Vladimir Kuzmic said that Crodux would integrate with Petrol until the end of the year but that petrol stations with the Crodux brand would continue to exist.

Petrol Zagreb has 109 petrol stations in Croatia and a market share of 13% while Crodux has 93 petrol stations and a market share of 10%.

Combined, this makes a market share of 23% and 204 petrol stations, which ranks the group second among suppliers of oil products in Croatia.

Petrol is continually expanding its network of charging stations for electric cars, and is present with that infrastructure in Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro. The group already operates more than 300 charging stations and plans to have a total of 1,575 by 2025, it was said.