The City of Cazin is advancing a pilot action focused on installing photovoltaic (PV) power plants on public buildings and laying the groundwork for an Energy Cooperative model. A first key step has been clarifying the permitting requirements for planned installations: under current regulations, three rooftop PV systems up to 23 kW can be developed without urban planning consent or a building permit, while a 30 kW installation requires both urban planning consent and a building permit.
To support smoother implementation, Cazin has established communication with the Ministry of Construction, Spatial Planning, and Environmental Protection of the Una-Sana Canton and received information about a prepared legal amendment proposal that would remove the 23 kW limit and further simplify the construction of PV power plants on rooftops, auxiliary structures, near buildings, and solar canopies on the same plot.
In parallel, the city has created a strong technical support link by cooperating with the “Community Action for Energy Transition (CAET)” project implemented by GIZ, which contributes expertise on developing the legal and implementation framework for energy cooperatives in Bosnia and Herzegovina (including work on quota and incentive regulations, barrier/opportunity analysis, implementation concepts, and financial models).
The pilot is built around a clear investor set-up: members of the future energy cooperative are expected to be public enterprises and public institutions, including the public utility Vodovod, the Center for Culture and Tourism Cazin, the Welfare Center of Cazin, and the public kindergarten “Hasnija Omanović”.
Next steps include signing agreements between the City of Cazin and the owners of four public buildings, launching and completing a simplified procurement procedure, carrying out construction, performing technical acceptance and commissioning of the PV plants, and preparing a Business Plan for the Energy Cooperative. The pilot also highlights the importance of maintaining synergy with the CAET/GIZ support stream as implementation progresses.
