Over 80% of Energy Wood III funds for biomass fuel loans are used

More than 200 interest free loans for modern biomass heating systems have been approved within the third phase of the Energy Wood program since its implementation started in Montenegro. Those loans accounted for more than 80 per cent of the project funds.

Energy Wood III program started on October 16. It has given citizens a possibility to opt for cleaner heating fuels in their households. The loans enable citizens to apply for 0% interest rate loans with range up to EUR 3,500 and with a repayment period of 5 years, so that they could purchase and install a heating system on modern biomass fuels, like pellet and briquettes.

Project’s completion deadline is the end of 2017. The Ministry of Economy of Montenegro, that provided funds for the program, has invited citizens to benefit from the loans and use remaining funds for the implementation of the program for switching to cleaner fuels.

The Ministry announced that citizens could apply for a loan in any of the four banks, its partners in the implementation of this project – Atlas Bank, NLB Bank, Hipotekarna banka or Prva banka, but that the majority of funds for the subsidy of interest free loans remaines in Atlas bank.

The Energy Wood III loan application procedure is simple, according to the Ministry’s statement. After choosing a heating system and receiving bids from installers or distributor, citizens go to the bank and apply for a loan.

The program allows citizens to replace old heating systems with modern efficient technologies, which have less operational costs and significantly less negative impact on the environment, under favorable conditions – through interest-free loans up to EUR 3,500 with a repayment period of up to 5 years.

Previous two projects that were implemented in the past four years with the support of the Luxembourg Development Cooperation Agency and the Government of Norway, resulted in installment of 775 biomass heating systems.

The program Energy Wood aims at reducing the interest rates for clients, as well as the risk for financial institutions, encouraging the development of partnerships between commercial banks and distributors of biomass heating equipment, as well as reducing total greenhouse gas emissions through the installation of a biomass heating system.