Starigrad is a coastal municipality in the northern part of the Zadar county. Sometimes it is referred to as Starigrad Paklenica, in order not to be confused with Stari Grad on the island of Hvar. The literal translation of its name is “Old Town” as it has been inhabited since the Roman times. The Starigrad municipality covers a large area, with a relatively small population. All the territory of the municipality is within the Natura 2000 network (partly covered by National park Paklenica and party by the Nature Park Velebit). The Velebit is the largest mountain range in Croatia, and it belongs to the Dinaric Alps. In the Starigrad municipality the Velebit mountain range meets the Adriatic Sea, forming steep mountain slopes which continue well into the depths of the sea. This combination of vastly different geographical features on a small area result in unique wind type with extremely strong wind gusts (of up to 300km/h). This wind is one of the key contributors to the bare (desert like) landscape of the surrounding areas, like on the island Pag. However, the Bora wind has significant wind power potential, which has resulted in a growth of wind power installations in the area.

The pilot municipality Starigrad is a peripheral municipality of the much larger city Zadar, which is also the administrative centre of the Zadar county. The county has some authority over energy planning, including setting county goals for use of RES. Starigrad must follow these goals. The county strategy recognizes great solar and wind potential of which only the former is being intensively utilized. There were several large-scale solar proposals, but most were not realized. There is no data of solar utilization for Starigrad individually.