Physical Planning Act
Environmental Protection Act
EIA Regulation
Building Act
Ordinance on simple buildings
Act on Croatian Air Navigation Services
Electricity Market Act
Energy approval Ordinance

Spatial planning
In Croatia, spatial planning is governed by the Physical Planning Act. The spatial plan (art. 53 et seq. Physical Planning Act) is the basic document of spatial planning of each unit of local self-government. The plan is adopted by the representative body of the local self-government unit, i.e., the municipal or city council. The spatial plan determines the directions for the development of activities and the purpose of land use. Plans of a lower level (e.g., municipality), must be in line with those of a higher level (e.g., county). The competent body for the development of the spatial plan at state level is the Ministry of Physical Planning and Construction.
The process of drawing up a local spatial plan can be initiated by anyone. At least once a year, the mayor is obliged to consider the submitted proposals (art. 85 Physical Planning Act). Art. 94 of the Physical Planning Act foresees a compulsory public consultation in the spatial plan drafting process, which anyone can participate in. Before the adoption of the spatial plan the Ministry of Physical Planning and Construction must give its approval that the plan is in line with the Physical Planning Act (art. 61).
If the spatial plan does not already foresee a special area for the construction of wind farms or ground-mounted solar PV installations, the developer should already at an early stage get in touch with the competent zoning board in the local government.
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
Typically, larger onshore wind or solar power projects have to carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), especially in regions with larger numbers of protected birds or other animals such as bats. The Environmental Impact Assessment is governed by the Environmental Protection Act and the Regulation on the Environmental Impact Assessment.
The EIA entails a process of assessing the acceptability of the intended project with regard to the environment and it determines the necessary environmental protection measures in order to minimise the impacts and achieve the greatest possible preservation of environmental quality. The assessment procedure is carried out at an early stage of the project planning. For wind power projects with capacity higher than 20 MW and all power plants with capacity higher than 100 MW an EIA needs to always be carried out. For solar power plants as free-standing installations an assessment must be made of whether an EIA has to be carried out or not (EIA screening).
The competent body for the EIA is the county administration, or the City of Zagreb.
The EIA procedure is initiated based on a written request from the project developer. The impact of the project on the environment will be assessed by a commission of scientists and professional experts. The commission, after determining that the Environmental Impact Study is complete and acceptable, proposes to the competent body to initiate a public consultation on the study.
Location permit
Spatial plans are implemented by issuing location permits and building permits (also based on the Building Act) (art. 114 Spatial Planning Act).
The location permitting procedure is mainly governed by the Physical Planning Act (art. 125 et seq. Physical Planning Act). It is initiated at the request of the interested party. The positive decision of the EIA on the project has to be included in the request. The authorities responsible for issuing the location permit are the administrative bodies that perform the tasks for spatial planning and construction of counties or of the City of Zagreb. Before the decision is taken, a public hearing is organised by the competent authority.
Building permit
There are no principal differences for wind power plants or other constructions. Therefore, normal building regulations apply. The procedure is mainly governed by art. 106 et seq. of the Building Act.
According to art. 128 of the Building Act, in combination with the Ordinance on simple buildings, rooftop PV systems do not require a building permit if they are built on an already existing building (art. 5 Ordinance on simple buildings). Of course, the project developer is still obliged to comply with building regulations and the spatial plan. However, solar PV or solar thermal collectors can be built without a building permit even in contradiction to the spatial plan, but only if the energy is not fed into the grid, i.e., they are used for self-consumption purpose (art. 128 par. 5 item 3 Building Act). There is also an obligation to notify the competent building authority of the beginning of construction works. Furthermore, simple constructions (house-mounted PV systems) do not need to acquire an energy approval, nor an environmental impact assessment.
Air permit
For reasons of aviation safety, constructions of onshore wind turbines must also obtain an approval from the Croatian Air Traffic Control (Act on Establishing the Croatian Air Navigation Services). The Croatian ATC (Air Traffic Control) will decide whether the turbine can be built taking into account air traffic, lighting and colour of the wind turbine.
Energy approval
The issuance of the energy approval is governed by art. 12 and 13 Electricity Market Act and in more detail by the Energy approval Ordinance. The purpose of this act is to ensure the safety of power generation systems (art. 4 Energy approval Ordinance).
If for the construction of a generating plant a location permit is prescribed, the energy approval is issued after the location permit or otherwise after the issuance of the building permit (art. 5 Energy approval Ordinance). The request for energy approval is submitted to the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development.
The Energy approval Ordinance provides specific technical prerequisites for wind power turbines, such as provisions on minimum distance, space and capacity, etc. After acquiring the energy approval, the project developer can obtain the status of a eligible producer (art. 3 Energy approval Ordinance), which is an essential prerequisite for eligibility under the Croatian auction support scheme for renewable energies.

Counties and municipalities
Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets
Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development
Croatian Air Traffic Control
HEP ODS d.o.o. (Distribution system operator)
HOPS (Transmission system operator)
Hrvatska energetska regulatorna agencija (HERA)