Paper Short Abstract:

This paper analyses how transition to renewable energy is being shaped and implemented in Istria (Croatia), strained by inefficient power infrastructure and increase in energy consumption. This is fuelling pressure to close local coal-fired power station, offering various energopreneurs to co-create new, renewable energy related fields of power.

Paper Abstract:

Over the past two decades, the energy transition in Croatia has been shaped by the strategies and interests of both regional and international large capital and dominant political centres. The discourses about the need to secure enough energy was followed by the debates about the negative aspects of new renewable energy infrastructure on environment. This prove to be in alignment with our ongoing research on energy sovereignty in Croatia, showing simultaneously how appropriate renewable energy infrastructure, or the lack of it, is pivotal in green transition project.

This paper aims to analyse how transition to renewables is being shaped and implemented in Istria, one of the economically most developed Croatian regions, still remaining at the periphery of EU. However, despite investments being made into, mostly, tourist infrastructure, Istria faces challenges due to outdated and inefficient power infrastructure, much of which dates to the socialist era. This infrastructure is further strained by a sharp increase in energy consumption during the tourist season. Despite these challenges, local administrations lack clear strategies to implement effective solutions, resulting in heated debates between private investors, state interests, local stakeholders, and grassroots initiatives. We perceive this lack of adequate infrastructure as a special form of infrastructural violence, fuelled by the pressure to close the coal-fired Plomin Power Station. This pressure creates narratives of urgency while simultaneously offering a set of opportunities for various actors, including energopreneours to participate in the creation of new field of power, renewable energy related.