Croatia’s Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund has launched a €38 million support programme for household renewable-energy investment, adding residential battery storage to the eligible technology list for the first time.
The programme covers rooftop solar installations intended for self-consumption, heat pumps used for heating, cooling and domestic hot water, and battery systems that allow households to retain surplus photovoltaic generation for later use.
Standard applicants may receive grants covering as much as 50% of eligible expenditure. Households classified as being at risk of energy poverty may qualify for support covering up to 70% of the investment.
Individual grants for standard applicants will range from €6,000 to €17,850, while vulnerable households may receive between €8,400 and €24,990 in non-refundable support. The structure gives Croatia a stronger residential electrification package than programmes limited solely to photovoltaic panels because it also addresses heat demand and behind-the-meter flexibility.
Battery eligibility is the most consequential addition. Croatia’s growing solar fleet is increasing midday production while household demand frequently peaks later in the day. Storage can raise self-consumption, reduce evening withdrawals from the distribution system and improve the economics of rooftop installations where exported electricity receives less value than power purchased from the network.
The programme will be financed from revenues generated through the auctioning of greenhouse-gas emission allowances under Croatia’s proposed 2026–2030 spending plan. Only new investments are generally eligible. Costs must be incurred after publication of the call, although advance equipment payments and expenditure related to preparing HEP ODS metering points may qualify when paid on or after 1 January 2026.
Projects fully paid before the programme was announced are excluded. A separate retroactive mechanism is planned for households that installed and commissioned solar systems after the previous call closed but before the new programme opened. Eligible applicants under that arrangement will be able to recover up to 50% of project costs.
The programme shifts Croatian residential policy from simple renewable-capacity support towards coordinated household energy management. Its effectiveness will depend on distribution-connection processing, equipment availability, installer capacity and whether grant payments are made quickly enough to avoid imposing excessive bridge-financing requirements on households.
