Western Power, an Ireland- and UK-based wind energy developer, is studying potential offshore wind areas in Croatia’s sector of the Adriatic Sea. Subject to plans taking off, as this is currently at an early stage, the company could develop a 500 MW offshore wind project off the coast of Istria County.

Western Power has appointed Danish company Naver Energy, part of the British Venterra Group, to perform the work on assessing the feasibility of developing an offshore wind farm and related industrial opportunities in Croatia.

Potential sites, each with an estimated capacity of 500 MW, have already been identified. A final site location will be selected soon, after consultation with key stakeholders, including the Croatian authorities.

Once the final site has been chosen, Western Power intends to commence environmental and site surveys which will include surveys of bird and marine mammals present within and near the site.

Naver Energy’s Business Development Director told offshoreWIND.biz that with a potential CAPEX of up to EUR 2 billion, this could become the largest single investment in an infrastructure project in modern Croatian history.

The Danish company pointed out that it has sought to engage local businesses as much as possible in the feasibility assessment work. As part of its engagement with Western Power, Naver Energy / Venterra Advisory has been collaborating with Croatian companies such as Anemos Engineering, with the work supported by the University of Zagreb’s Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture (FSB).

If the plans for the project offshore Istria, and those behind other investigations of offshore wind potential in the country, pan out, Croatia could soon join the growing number of European countries developing their offshore wind economy or on their path to doing so.