The state secretary at the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, Ivo Milatic, said on Tuesday that in addition to 390 million kuna set aside for the energy renovation of family housing, as much money would also be allocated to companies for the same purpose.

The money will be allocated from the national recovery and resilience plan to companies which failed to get funding in the tender process because there wasn’t enough money, Milatic said in response to the question from MP Tomislav Okrosa of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) during debate on the final text of the renewable energy bill.

Okrosa said that 8,850 applications had been received as part of the call for the energy renovation of housing and the construction of systems for the use of renewable energy sources, while only 390 million kuna was available. He wondered if this call would be issued again and whether this amount would suffice.

Milatic expressed hope that the amount would suffice, “and if not, calls will continue from the new financial perspective and the Environmental Protection Fund,” and that all this investment would result in the installation of “a serious amount of solar panels” by the end of 2022.

He dismissed the claim by Zvane Brumnic (Social Democrats group) that the bill had been changed between the two readings indicating that investors would turn an enormous profit at the expense of citizens.

“I don’t know where you found this. I categorically deny that private companies will make an enormous profit, that’s out of the question,” Milatic said.

He said that the bill promoted the use of renewable energy sources and aimed to increase the share of renewable energy in the heating and cooling sector by 1.1 percentage points as the annual average calculated for the period until 2025.

This bill seeks to ensure that there is at least 36.6 per cent of renewable energy in final energy consumption by 2030, the state secretary said.

(€1 = 7.5 kuna)