MB Holding plans to develop 100 MW geothermal power capacities in Croatia - report

The company's local unit MB Geothermal, holds licences for geothermal exploration in four areas in northern Croatia, news daily Poslovni Dnevnik reported. 

The Turkish company now employs 25 in Croatia but plans to create 5,000 new jobs once it starts building the planned new geothermal power capacities, Poslovni Dnevnik said.

In November, MB Holding inaugurated the first geothermal power plant in Croatia, the 16.5 MW Velika 1 - a project worth 325 million kuna ($49 million/44 million euro). In 2015, the Turkish company was awarded the contract to build the Velika 1 plant, which is located near Bjelovar, some 85 km east of Zagreb.

In September, Croatian media reported that Zagreb-based MB Geothermal has signed a deal with local project design firm Ekonerg for the design of a 19.9 MW geothermal power plant. The Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) plant will be build in Legrad, close to the city of Koprivnica in the country's north. The plant, MB Holding's second in Croatia, is planned to produce some 165 GWh of electricity per year, according to the media reports.

In December 2018, Italian turbogenerator manufacturer Turboden, a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries company, completed the commissioning of the Velika 1 plant, whose ORC turbine system was delivered by Turboden. The Velika 1 project received the Best Innovation Award for its innovative design by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 2016.

(1 euro = 7.43942 kuna)