February the 12th, 2025 – The Geothermal Investment Forum Croatia 2025 is scheduled to take place here in Zagreb at the very beginning of March. This country’s geothermal potential is enormous, and that train cannot afford to be missed.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, in early March, Zagreb will host the Geothermal Investment Forum Croatia 2025 (GIFC2025), the first international conference entirely dedicated to geothermal energy in Croatia. The conference will be held over the 3rd and and 4th of March at the Sheraton Zagreb Hotel, and will bring together leading experts, government, industry, financial and academia representatives from Croatia, Europe and the world.

In these times of plenty of geopolitical turmoil, strengthening Europe’s energy sovereignty and sustainability is becoming a key priority. Geothermal energy is a renewable, stable and carbon-neutral energy source, which is estimated to meet up to a quarter of Europe’s heating and cooling needs and up to 10% of its electricity needs. The European Green Deal recognises geothermal energy as key to achieving climate neutrality by 2050.

Its importance has been increasingly emphasised over more recent years. Owing to that, the European Parliament’s 2023 EU Geothermal Energy Policy Document states that geothermal energy is considered key to the decarbonisation of the heating and cooling sector. Back at end of 2023, the Geothermal Energy Report was adopted, the role of which is to guide future legislative initiatives of the European Commission and provide EU Member States with a proper political framework for the development of geothermal energy.

The fact that the development of geothermal energy is a current necessity was confirmed by the Council of Ministers in December last year. They called on the European Commission to develop a comprehensive strategy for the decarbonisation of heating and cooling accompanied by a dedicated European Geothermal Energy Action Plan. That plan would boast the proper measures to facilitate the implementation of geothermal projects and accelerate the introduction of geothermal energy.

croatian geothermal energy represents enormous potential

Croatia has the largest geothermal potential in all of Europe. It is so high that it is actually 60 percent higher than the European average, which presents it with both a challenge and a heavy responsibility of using this potential to provide people with clean and stable energy. According to the National Energy and Climate Plan for the Republic of Croatia, the expected amount of electricity generated from geothermal potential by 2030 is 68 MW. That is a fifth of the power of the Croatian part of the Krško NPP of 348 MW, which meets about 16 percent of the annual electricity needs in Croatia.

However, with investments in geothermal energy, projections for 2050 are 405 MW, which exceeds the power of the Croatian part of the Krško NPP. With development like that, Croatia could have more than 30 percent of its electricity provided solely from geothermal and nuclear energy, not counting additional energy from solar, wind and hydroelectric power plants, which are also all carbon neutral.

the Geothermal Investment Forum Croatia 2025 will highlight the country’s unique position

“Croatia has a unique position in Europe, because such a high geothermal gradient combined with investments can position the country as a geothermal leader at the European level. People in Croatia can also be readily provided with clean and stable energy. The fact is that geothermal energy is becoming an increasingly important part of the energy mix, Europe has recognised this, and Croatia, which has the greatest potential of all, should take advantage of it in a timely manner,” said Dragutin Domitrović, President of the Geothemal Investment Forum Croatia 2025 Programme Committee. He added that the development of various geothermal projects requires significant financial investments, which is why the conference participants include representatives of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the World Bank, and the European Investment Bank.

Panels and discussions at the conference will cover various topics, such as geothermal energy in the service of urban development in the context of increasing energy efficiency. In that, there will be some specific examples of cities that have implemented geothermal heating and cooling systems. The focus will also be on investment models and risk mitigation, in which examples of successful investment models and the application of geothermal energy in agriculture will be studied. The panelists include representatives of energy companies ENNA, SOYAK, SLB, and members of the European Parliament, led by Croatian MEP Davor Ivo Stier.

“We aren’t discovering hot water, we’re literally sitting on top of it – Croatia is one of the leading geothermal potentials in Europe, which isn’t talked about enough. There’s a clear need to highlight this at both the European and national level. The forum is promoting Croatia’s geothermal potential for the first time, because now is a unique opportunity for Croatia to strategically position itself and attract investments for the green energy transition,” said Mario Aunedi Medek, director of the Alpheus Public Affairs agency, which is organising the Geothermal Investment Forum Croatia 2025 in cooperation with the Croatian Chamber of Economy.
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