It has unveiled plans to cut red tape and bring more households into the program from September.
The urgency of last year's energy crisis resulted in enormous interest in energy-saving subsidies. The CZK 19 billion (EUR 874 million) earmarked from the National Recovery Plan to finance the New Green Savings program were used up two years earlier than planned.
"Just in the last year and a half, from October 2021, a record 110,000 households applied for a subsidy. This far exceeded the total number of applications received in the previous seven years of the program," said Minister of the Environment Petr Hladík. "For example, we have seen a threefold year-on-year increase in PV rebate demand."
Since its launch in 2014, the New Green Savings program has supported 180,000 households to the tune of CZK 22 billion. The Czech government managed to negotiate an additional CZK 55 billion (EUR 2.33 billion) from the Modernization Fund, which was set up by the EU in 2021 to help 10 member states upgrade grids and meet 2030 energy targets.
To date, resources in the Modernization Fund were available solely for utility-scale PV in the Czech Republic. According to the Czech government, the revamped program will bring many improvements. The process from submission to subsidy payments will be simplified. Some criteria will be relaxed, and the obligation to submit invoices and project documentation will be removed.
The detailed conditions of support in the revamped program will be gradually introduced in the coming months, said the ministry.
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