Croatia’s GEOen Eyes Building Permits for 200 Mln Kuna (27.6 Mln Euro) Geothermal Plant - Media

ZAGREB (Croatia), August 12 (SeeNews) – Croatian energy and construction company GEOen is in the process of securing building permits for a 200 million kuna ($35.5 million/27.6 million euro) geothermal power plant near the local town of Bjelovar, Zagreb-based daily Business reported, quoting company co-owner Zeljko Jurilj.

GEOen, co-owned by Zeljko Jurilj's brother, Dragan, could start by the end of 2010 the preparations for the launch of construction, Business (www.business.hr) reported on Wednesday, quoting Bjelovar-based media.

The Marija 1 geothermal power station, the first of its kind in Croatia, will have a capacity of 4.71 megawatts and will be located in the Velika Ciglena geothermal field, data from GEOen's website (www.geoen.hr) indicated.

No information was immediately available on the funding scheme of the project.

State-owned oil and gas company INA and another state-controlled firm, power utility HEP, as well as the town of Bjelovar were initially set to take part in the project which started to take shape in 2006. INA was supposed to supply the technology while HEP was to foot the bill for the feasibility study. However, due to the recession, the state-owned companies pulled out of the project, leaving it to the Jurilj brothers, Business said.

GEOen has so far invested 3.9 million kuna in the project, buying some 4,500 square metres of agricultural land from private owners, the daily said.

(1 euro = 7.2321 Croatian kuna)

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