Croatia's distributor named three ways to connect a battery. Co-located storage still may not charge from the grid.
HEP ODS told PV Europe the battery connection frame is ready enough to plug in. Standalone, co-located with solar, and active-customer paths exist. Co-located batteries are for shifting self-generated power only - grid charging is off the table for that model.
A battery only earns its keep if the network will let it plug in - and will say what it may do once plugged in. That is the workplace question in Croatia before anyone sizes a quote.
On 22 January 2026, PV Europe reported Ivan Burul of HEP ODS - Croatia's distribution system operator - saying the regulatory framework is "sufficiently advanced for battery storage to be connected to the grid." He named three connection models. The piece still matters for any factory or warehouse designing a 2026 hybrid, because the co-located rule shapes the revenue stack.
Model one: standalone storage on its own meter. Full connection procedure, same shape as a generator - energy sector permit first, then the standard connection process, technical description, contracts, ownership proof.
Model two: storage bolted onto an existing generator, usually solar. This is the path most workplaces will ask about. Burul's restriction is the whole story: co-located batteries are barred from grid charging - "Their sole function is to shift the feed-in of self-generated electricity." New solar designed with a battery from day one treats the battery as part of the solar plant - no separate energy sector permit. A battery added later to existing PV, connection capacity unchanged, needs electricity sector approval rather than a full new connection process.
Model three: active customer. Households up to 10.8 kW need only electricity sector approval. Above that threshold, full connection process. Mid-size commercial sites plan for the heavier path.
Analogy: a co-located battery under model two is a silo next to your own field. You may store grain you grew. You may not buy grain from the public market and stash it in that silo. That kills classic buy-cheap-night / sell-expensive-evening arbitrage for co-located systems. It leaves load-shifting of your own midday solar - still useful for a two-shift plant, a cold store, or a hotel with an evening peak.
Good: three named paths beat a shrug. Procurement can ask the DSO which door applies before the quote arrives. Adding a battery to existing PV without raising connection capacity is paperwork-light relative to a new standalone box. HEP ODS is on the record that the basic connection frame is ready.
Bad: the grid-charging ban on co-located storage shrinks the revenue stack. Model the project on self-consumption shift, not wholesale trading. The 10.8 kW active-customer band is a household figure - not a free pass for a warehouse.
Ugly: congestion-management rules and non-frequency ancillary services were drafted and through public consultation when Burul spoke, still awaiting final approval in that piece. Until they land, balancing-market and system-service money stays half-closed. A board that banks ancillary revenue from this article alone is buying a promise, not a published tariff.
Source: PV Europe, 22 Jan 2026 - Croatia opens distribution grid to battery storage projects. Quotes from Ivan Burul as published. No site payback, no ancillary tariff table, and no later English HEP ODS rulebook update on that page.