As part of the European smart grid project SINCRO.GRID, a contract "The installation of variable shunt reactor (VSR) in SS 400/220/110 kV Melina" was signed in Zagreb on August 28, 2019. The value of the above contract amounts 36,466,010.10 kuna, with a deadline of 15 months from the introduction of the contractor to the job.

The contract was signed on behalf of HOPS by Tomislav Plavšić (President of the Management Board), on behalf of Siemens by Medeja Lončar (President of the Management Board) and on behalf of Smart Infrastructure Hrvatska by Nataša Novodsad (Head of finance) and Krunoslav Brekalo (Director).

Recall that the Sincro.Grid smart grid project was created by the long-term cooperation of Croatian and Slovenian transmission and distribution system operators (ELES, HOPS, HEP-ODS, SODO). The project's objective is to address the challenges of managing the power system and eliminating congestion in the power grid, thereby enabling an acceptable level of system security and ensuring the preconditions for the implementation of new renewable energy sources.

On the 17th February 2017, the European Commission announced that the project proposal was eligible for co-financing in the total requested amount of 40.5 million Euro (51% of the overall investment). A Grant Agreement for the SINCRO.GRID project was signed in Brussels on May 22nd 2017 between INEA and ELES as a project coordinator (on behalf of all promoters, the Grant Agreement under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) - Energy Sector Agreement No. INEA / CEF / ENER / M2016 / 1289177 with INEA).