Hundreds of people yesterday queued outside the offices of the Malta Resources Authority to apply for financial schemes to assist them to install domestic solar heaters or photovoltaic units.
While welcoming the public response to the announced schemes, Environment minister George Pullicino - who addressed the media together with MRA officials – said that energy saving schemes, including assistance for people to buy energy saving equipment, were saving the country €5 million a year in electricity generation costs.
George Pullicino said that talks were currently underway with the Attorney General’s office regarding amendments to the law so that tenants of apartments and flats could have access to the roof to install energy saving equipment, in the same way as they currently have a right to install a water tank and a TV aerial.
The 2010 Renewable Energy Incentive Scheme, for which applications were open yesterday, offers a grant of 50 per cent of the costs up to a maximum of €3,000 on the purchase of photovoltaic systems. The scheme is open to all families except those who have already benefited from a similar scheme in the past.
The scheme offering a grant of 40 per cent of the costs up to a maximum of €560 on the purchase of solar water heating systems is open to households in receipt of an energy voucher, households in receipt of social assistance, all Gozo residents, first time buyers of property whose value does not exceed €120,000 and which property must have been bought as from 1st January 2010 and households in receipt of the children’s allowance where the household income is less than €23,923,
The scheme is also open to households whose income or joint income is of less than €16,070
The budget allocated for the 2010 Renewable Energy Incentive Scheme, funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) – Social Cohesion Fund, is of €3.8 million for grants on the purchase of photovoltaic systems and €4.2 million for grants on the purchase of solar water heating technologies.
