Vukovar installing 12 solar power plants

In the next two years, 12 solar power plants will be built in Vukovar as part of the "Sun over Vukovar" project, with a total capacity of 801 kilowatts whose use would significantly reduce expenditures for electricity of city facilities and institutions, announced Vukovar Mayor Ivan Penava at a press conference.  

“The City of Vukovar, as the owner of a number of buildings, seeks to encourage other building owners in the city and the wider area to install solar power plants on their own roofs, thus contributing to greater energy efficiency of buildings, reduced dependence on energy supply and greater use of renewable energy sources,” said Vukovar Mayor Ivan Penava.

He stated that the project for the construction of solar power plants "Sun over Vukovar" was approved by the Ministry of Regional Development and European Union Funds, and is being implemented in cooperation with the Norwegian partner Energy Farm International Foundation. The value of the project is slightly more than 5.8 million kuna, of which 85 percent or 4.9 million kuna are from grants.

“Remember those statements of the former Minister of Economy Tomislav Ćorić that nothing will grow several times, but there will be much smaller price increases. However, we already knew then that this would not be the case. These were frivolous statements, but not much has changed. Legal entities are facing enormous price increases of several times. Thus, for the electricity that we paid 45 lipa per kilowatt for last year, we now have offers at a price of 1.62 kuna,” said Penava, assessing that this is a huge destabilization.

According to Vukovar Deputy Mayor Filip Sušac, the "Sun over Vukovar" solar power plants will be installed on the roofs of six Vukovar primary schools and two kindergartens, on the city administration building, market, sports hall in Borovo Naselje and the city swimming pool where the power plant with strength of 350 kW will be installed.

“In times when the price of electricity has increased three to four times, this project is extremely important. The return on total investment is planned for five to six years, however, given that electricity prices are rising, it is difficult to foresee, but we believe that investing in solar power plants is extremely significant and smart,” said Sušac.

The head of the city department for communal economy and construction Dražen Čulig stated that the Vukovar city swimming pool annually spends around one million kuna on electricity at current prices, while at the new prices, after July 1, the cost will rise to around 2.2 million kuna.

“The duration of solar power plants is between 20 and 25 years and when we put everything on paper, the savings in the pool alone will be more than 10 million kuna,” said Čulig.

Source: HRT