THE USE OF SOLAR ENERGY IN CROATIA

The Europeans are still facing extraordinary challenges and uncertainties in their daily lives to the extent that all efforts will still focus on protecting citizens and overcoming the crisis. The COVID-19 poses a challenge to Europe on a historical scale. At the request of Heads of State or Governments, the European Commission has presented a comprehensive package combining the future Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and specific recovery efforts within the next generation EU (NGEU). The EU's Next Generation Fund (NGEU) represents the European Union's recovery package to support Member States affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The fund was approved by the European Council on July 21, 2020, and is worth €750 billion. The NGEU fund covers the period 2021 – 2023 and will be linked to the regular EU budget (MFF) from 2021 to 2027. The comprehensive NGEU and VFO packages are projected to reach €1,824.3 billion. Most of the investment relates to the reforms and investments regarding green and digital transition. To achieve the European Green Plan and the next generation EU plan, policies related to clean energy supply in the economy, industry, general production and consumption, infrastructure, transport, agriculture, construction, etc., need to be reconsidered. In the light of all the above mentioned, and to achieve the green and digital transition, one of the significant areas in Croatia is the use of renewable energy sources, especially solar energy, which will be discussed in more detail in this paper.