The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIT) in the Czech Republic, has launched a call inviting solar PV projects of up to 1 MW capacity, to apply for state support from a total of CRW 4.0 billion ($177 million), a step to support efforts to reduce its energy dependence on Russia.
"Supporting renewable sources, led by photovoltaic systems, is one of the main directions we must take not only in our efforts to reduce emissions, but also to minimize our energy dependence on Russia," said Minister of Industry and Trade Jozef Síkela.
The call is open to both solar as well as solar and storage facilities. Funding support will be available for solar projects on commercial buildings including carports, warehouses and the like with and installed capacity of 1 kW to 1 MW. The idea is to support small and medium enterprises (SME), shared the minister and added that in case the allocated amount is not fully awarded, funds can be reallocated.
MIT said the call is open to all companies, not just the SMEs, and that it will start receiving applications on March 22, 2022 with last submission date being June 30, 2022.
Further details about the call are available on MIT's website.
MIT also added that the funding will come from the National Recovery Plan that with a total amount of CRW 200 billion was approved by the government in May 2021 to revive the economy hurting from the impact of COVID-19 pandemic.
The European Commission recently came out with its RePowerEU plan in response to Russia's invasion in the Ukraine but its solar plans have disappointed the local solar industry (see EU's REPowerEU To Reduce Russia Reliance Short on Solar).