27.07.2021.
The ceremony was held today of awarding the contracts worth HRK 326.3 million in total to the representatives of the companies that were granted funding under the public call “Improving energy efficiency and use of renewable energy sources in manufacturing industries”.The minister of economy and sustainable development, Tomislav Ćorić, said that energy efficiency was expected to increase in these companies as well as their competitiveness due to reduced consumption of electricity and increased efficiency of production.
“This type of call for proposals is currently the best possible money supply for the Croatian economy because it allows the companies to reduce electricity consumption by improving their energy efficiency, installing solar panels,” said Ćorić, adding that this was the direction the State should follow on the path to becoming a low-carbon and climate neutral society.
He emphasised that significant funding for the same purpose had been provided for in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and Croatian entrepreneurs could expect new calls for proposals at the end of this and beginning of the next year. The granted funding must be invested in the next year or two. “There will be even more calls like these in the upcoming period,” concluded the minister.
Helena Iveković, the head of Intermediate Body level 2 at the Fund responsible for the implementation and control of projects that are, as this one, co-financed from EU funds, said the contracts had been signed with five micro and small enterprises, six medium and 17 big enterprises. She announced that IB2 will organise educational workshops so that the representatives of the companies that signed project contracts could get familiar with all implementation steps, and to get some useful advice on keeping everything in line with EU rules and procedures. “We are aware these are challenging projects, and their implementation is more complex, but on our part, the Fund will help everyone involved to see them through as successfully as possible,” said Iveković.
