Energy in Croatia
Encyclopedia
Energy in Croatia describes energy
World energy resources and consumption
]World energy consumption in 2010: over 5% growthEnergy markets have combined crisis recovery and strong industry dynamism. Energy consumption in the G20 soared by more than 5% in 2010, after the slight decrease of 2009. This strong increase is the result of two converging trends...

 and electricity
Electricity generation
Electricity generation is the process of generating electric energy from other forms of energy.The fundamental principles of electricity generation were discovered during the 1820s and early 1830s by the British scientist Michael Faraday...

 production, consumption and import in Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

.

Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

 satisfies its electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...

 needs largely from hydro
Hydropower
Hydropower, hydraulic power, hydrokinetic power or water power is power that is derived from the force or energy of falling water, which may be harnessed for useful purposes. Since ancient times, hydropower has been used for irrigation and the operation of various mechanical devices, such as...

 and thermal
Thermal power station
A thermal power station is a power plant in which the prime mover is steam driven. Water is heated, turns into steam and spins a steam turbine which drives an electrical generator. After it passes through the turbine, the steam is condensed in a condenser and recycled to where it was heated; this...

 power plants, and partly from the Krško nuclear power plant
Krško Nuclear Power Plant
The Krško Nuclear Power Plant is located in Krško, Slovenia. The plant was connected to the power grid on October 2, 1981 and went into commercial operation on January 15, 1983...

, which is co-owned by Croatian and Slovenian state-owned power companies.

Hrvatska elektroprivreda
Hrvatska elektroprivreda
Hrvatska elektroprivreda is a national power company in Croatia which has been engaged in electricity production, transmission and distribution for more than one century, and with heat supply and gas distribution for the past few decades...

(HEP) is the national energy company charged with production, transmission and distribution of electricity.

In 2009, electricity consumption totaled 17.5 terawatt-hours, which is about 1% less than in 2008.

Production

Total installed capacity of generating objects built in Croatia amounts to 3745 MW, 2079 MW of which is hydropower's share, and 1666 MW comes from thermal power plants. There are 25 hydroelectric power plants, most of which are located on the coast (including the single pumped storage hydroelectric plant
Pumped-storage hydroelectricity
Pumped-storage hydroelectricity is a type of hydroelectric power generation used by some power plants for load balancing. The method stores energy in the form of water, pumped from a lower elevation reservoir to a higher elevation. Low-cost off-peak electric power is used to run the pumps...

, RHE Velebit), and 7 thermal power stations, 3 of which also generate heat for industry and heating in cities. Also, 338 MW is available from the co-owned Krško nuclear power plant, and 210 MW from the privately-owned Plomin 2 thermal power plant.

In 2009, domestic production amounted to 12015 GWh, which was 67.9% of total domestic demand. Remaining 32.1% was covered through trade.
Total consumption equaled 17697 GWh, a 1% decrease from 2008.

Transmission

Croatian transmission grid consists of lines on three different rated voltage levels, namely 400, 220 and 110 kV. Total length of high-voltage lines is 7315 km (4,545.34 mi).

The grid was often the target of attacks during Croatian War of Independence
Croatian War of Independence
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...

, resulting in frequent black-outs during the period. Since then, the grid has been repaired, and reconnected to synchronous grid of Continental Europe synchronous zones 1 and 2, making it an important transit system again.

Distribution

Under the 2004 Energy law, customers in Croatia are allowed to choose their preferred distributor of electricity. Howerver, HEP Operator distribucijskog sustava or HEP-ODS (a Hrvatska elektroprivreda subsidiary) remains the largest distributor to both industry and households. It's distribution grid is 132938 km (82,604.05 mi) long, with 26764 transformers installed, totalling 14170 MVA of power.

In 2009 there were 2310811 customers, 90.8% of which were households.
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