Filenews 23 October 2023
Applications for the government's new "photovoltaics for all" scheme, which aims to help small and medium-sized households install photovoltaics in their homes without initial capital, are expected to start in the first months of 2024.
The plan has been included in the package of 17 support measures approved by the Council of Ministers and is seen as a measure to help households cope with energy costs. According to Commerce Department officials, the final details of the plan are yet to be finalized.
The plan targets small and medium-sized homes, with the roof set at 1,600 kilowatt-hours of annual consumption, which translates into a photovoltaic system of up to 4.2 kilowatts. It is reminded that, as announced, the scheme provides for the granting of a grant of €1,000 and then repayment of the remaining cost of the system with an instalment of €150 through EAC invoices.
The thoughts that are made are to give a pre-approval by the management committee of the fund and then the applicant of the project will proceed with the installation company of the photovoltaic system.
According to the same sources, an effort will be made to reach an agreement with suppliers to cap the prices of photovoltaic systems, which currently range between €5,000 and €6,000 depending on the system, and to avoid possible inflationary pressures due to the expected increase in demand. Based on these prices and given that the budget of the new plan amounts to €30 million. It is estimated that around 6,000 applications will be covered.
In the meantime, following actions by the Ministry in cooperation with EAC, the approval period has been significantly reduced to four months, while the electronic platform will evolve to respond to the applications of the new scheme. At the same time, it is estimated that there is capacity in the market to respond to increased applications with several companies supplying and installing photovoltaics, while there are no indications of possible shortages.
Regarding the stability of the network, it is recalled that there is an agreement between the Transmission System Operator and the Distribution System Operator for the installation of a ripple control system, in order to safeguard the security of the electricity network.
The new scheme will run in parallel with the other two sponsorship schemes, namely the granting of a €1,500 grant for the installation of a system with own funds and bonuses in case of investment in roof thermal insulation and the scheme for vulnerable groups with 100% coverage of the cost of the system and additional bonuses in case of roof thermal insulation investment.
At this point, however, there is still a concern whether the reduced grant of €1,000 will be a sufficient disincentive to deter potential applicants who have the ability to install a photovoltaic system with their own funds, receiving a grant of €1,500, so as not to opt for the "photovoltaic for all" scheme, thus depriving a household of the opportunity. who does not have the initial capital, than to benefit from the project.
