The island of Cres is richer for another energy community. The initiative aims to encourage energy production from renewable energy sources.
Clean Energy for EU Islands and the ISLET project
Since 2019, when the Secretariat for the Energy Transition of the EU Islands chose the Cres-LoĊĦinj Islands among the 6 pioneer European islands on which to encourage the transition towards clean energy, the City of Cres has become one of the leaders of the Croatian islands, striving to introduce various innovations that can contribute to its energy transition.
The city of Cres is part of the ISLET project, which encourages cooperation between public authorities, private investors and citizens to develop energy communities on the islands. The project aims to facilitate the establishment of energy communities for the further creation and development of joint projects, primarily in the field of renewable energy. The ISLET project was financed with funds from the LIFE program.
Town of Cres, Cres Museum and Girica Kindergarten
The last initiative, following these activities, was the establishment of the Energy Community of Cres, which has the legal form of an association. The founding assembly of the association, in which the City of Cres, the Museum of Cres and the Kindergarten of Girica participated as founders, was held on December 19, 2024. The association’s areas of activity include economy, education, science, sustainable development, technical culture, culture and art, and environmental and nature protection.
The goal of the initiative is to encourage the production of energy from renewable sources, that is, the decentralization of its production and consumption. Specifically, the initial intention of this initiative is to enable the City of Cres and the Cres Museum to consume electricity produced by the solar power plant installed on the roof of the kindergarten, and to increase the production capacity of the power plant if necessary.
Namely, the buildings in which the City of Cres and the Museum of Cres operate are located in the historic city center where, due to restrictions set by conservators, it is not possible to install solar power plants on the roofs. The energy community will therefore enable, when all legal and technical conditions are met, the electricity produced by the kindergarten to be consumed by other members of the community in other locations.
Ambition to expand membership
Given that the goal of energy communities is not to achieve financial profit, but to provide environmental, economic and social benefits to members and the local communities in which they operate, and that they are based on voluntary participation and open control of members or owners of shares, Energy Community Cres, which now has only three members, has the ambition to expand its membership to other public institutions, business entities and citizens.
By expanding the membership and increasing the production and consumption capacities of the energy community, its members will have the opportunity to directly participate in new energy production and use initiatives, including investing in production capacities at private and public facilities. In 2025, the Cres Energy Community will develop a business plan and monitor that the new legal regulations enable the smooth development of activities.
Although the concept of an energy community has been developing in some European countries for many years, and the European Union introduced it into the regulatory framework in 2018, the provisions of the current Croatian legislation do not allow the simple establishment and operation of energy communities. Therefore, the City of Cres believes that by promoting this initiative, it will contribute to the development of legislative solutions and the promotion of energy communities not only on the Croatian islands, but also at the national level.