Slovenia supports district heating projects based on renewables with EUR 8 million grant

The Ministry of Infrastructure of Slovenia has published a call for co-financing of district heating projects based on use of renewable energy sources. The projects will be supported with a grant of total value of EUR 8 million.

The call is open until all the funds for the period 2017-2020 are allocated, which would be no later than June 7, 2018, the Ministry of Infrastructure said.

The call for proposals, co-financed by the European Union’s Cohesion Fund, is focused on projects that use renewables like wooden biomass, geothermal and solar energy, and has following elements:

• construction of district heating systems on renewable energy sources with boiler capacity of up to 10 MW or the construction of micro systems of plants with a boiler capacity of up to 1 MW;
• extension of the existing district heating network with or without addition of wooden biomass boilers;
• solar hot water system can be included if solar energy contributes as an additional source to improving the district heating system

The call is open for companies and entrepreneurs.

The total amount of the financial incentive for the implementation of project submitted by a large enterprise is up to 35% of the investment costs.  For medium-sized enterprises, the financial incentive will be increased by 10 percentage points and by 20 percentage points for small enterprises. If the systems contain a cogeneration unit (CHP) for electricity and heat which is delivered to the district heating network, the amount of state aid can be increased by 10 percentage points.

The call for proposals is carried out under the Operational Program for the Implementation of the EU Cohesion Policy in the period 2014 – 2020 in Slovenia. The program’s aim is to encourage economic development of Slovenia with focus on the national and Europe 2020 targets for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, including in the energy sector.