[ad_1]
Use your electricity
V. Vaitkevičius, owner of a company that rents premises in Panevėžys, installed a 30 kW solar power plant on the roof of a commercial building a few years ago and sells the electricity it produces to the state.
Now the businessman is determined to build a solar power plant at his home in the Panevėžys district just for agricultural needs. V. Vaitkevičius calculated that 8-9 kW of power would be enough to meet the needs of the family. Considering that demand may increase in the future, APVA applied for a subsidy for the installation of a 10 kW power plant.
The businessman estimates that installing one together with document management will cost 7,700 euros. V. Vaitkevičius would cover a part of this amount – about 4,400 euros – from his own pocket, and expected to receive the rest as support from the state.
“The return on such investments will depend on our electricity consumption: the more we use it, the faster it will pay off.” To do this, we install an air-water heat pump at home, including charging an electric car. Investments in a 10 kW solar power plant would really pay off for our family in 5-7 years, ”calculated V. Vaitkevičius.
Liko Reserve
When the application for the installation of solar power plants began in April, the resident of Panevėžys applied to the APVA for a grant of approximately 3,300 euros on the first day.
The businessman was very surprised to receive a response from the agency last week that his application was on the reserve list.
His colleague, who plans to build a lower capacity power plant, is already happy with the subsidy he received, although he applied for it twenty days later.
“In the past, about five years ago, there was a procedure according to which if a house has not been delivered for more than five years, neither boilers nor solar energy can be subsidized. But a few years ago, that threshold was raised. After finding out, a colleague also filled out an application for the installation of a 7 kW solar power plant at the end of April. He already received a grant and I became a reservist ”, the paradox surprises V. Vaitkevičius.
The concerned businessman says he called APVA to ask how bad his application was. And even more embarrassed to hear the answer.
“I was even offended when a specialist from the agency said that anyone who applied for a subsidy for 10 kW solar power plants received no one. Perhaps this was due to the fact that by funding energy subsidies of 3.5 or 7 kW, more people would receive and a larger group would be satisfied? ”- thinks the resident of Panevėžys.
The entrepreneur claims to have been interested in the scoring system before completing the application and did not infer anywhere that priority will be given to applicants for lower power plants.
“I read the scoring system to find out how many points are awarded, and I really did not see a problem that should cause me not to receive a subsidy. When applying, I did not find anywhere that the lower the power you ask for, the more points of evaluation you get and increases the probability of receiving financing ”, said V. Vaitkevičius indignantly, since he had planned the installation works of the plant.
Feels cheated
If the request had been granted, the entrepreneur’s farm would have started the planned installation work in a week or two at the latest, and would have been able to use the electricity produced from solar energy in a month and a half. After building the power plant in the summer, V. Vaitkevičius planned to build up a reserve of his own electricity before the heating season, to supply the surplus produced to the grid and then withdraw that electricity from the grid within a year by using payment of the network usage fee. Although this “storage” of electricity is also becoming more expensive, it is still cheaper than electricity purchased from the grid.
“In the summer, we need less electricity, a reserve would form, and from November to January, when the solar power plant would produce little, it would take away from ESO what it would have given to save. Now that plan is falling apart: without the subsidy, the sunniest moment is lost, when most of the electricity would be produced, ”says V. Vaitkevičius.
The businessman says he feels cheated. If he had known that the power plant capacity indicated in the application would become an obstacle, he would have requested less funds.
“I don’t understand why some kind of scoring system is created, which is not so understandable without experts. If I had known there would be such problems with a 10 kW power plant, I would have asked for a smaller one. I had already planned the construction this year and now I would have moved on “, – V. Vaitkevičius expresses his frustration.
The APVA response indicated that their application was placed on a reserve list and was valid for six months. If the Ministry of Energy does not allocate additional funds within that time, the residents of Panevėžys will have to try their luck next year.
“Isn’t this a hoax? Now APVA has promised that money will probably be given to the applications included in the reserve this month, but there is no guarantee,” fears V. Vaitkevičius.
The worst instability
According to him, this is not the first time that the state has changed the rules of the game. By installing a 30 kW solar power plant in his commercial building, the businessman calculated that he would sell electricity to the state at the then purchase price of 52 cents per 1 kWh, but now he only receives about 20 cents.
“Legislative instability is a terrible thing. I wanted to build a power plant on the farm 5 years ago, but then the subsidies came in order; the first one was smarter. In the current situation, a scoring system has been invented, but I have not discovered it yet ”, says the businessman.
Despite the confusion, V. Vaitkevičius says he is still in favor of green ideas and renewable energy sources. Panevėžys laughs that a couple of decades ago, when he was still a teenager, he dreamed that one day electric cars would run on the streets instead of gasoline.
Currently, the businessman plans to build another 30 kW solar power plant on the roof of his commercial building. According to him, one of those power plants, according to practical data, produces 29 thousand. kWh of electricity, and your building consumes about 14 thousand. kWh.
Provide additional financing
The explanation sent by APVA communication specialist Austėja Jonaitytė states that the agency, when evaluating the applications received, follows the priority selection criteria provided in the description of the financing conditions, for which points are awarded. These criteria include the capacity of the planned power plant.
“A higher score is given to projects that will introduce renewable energy technologies for the generation of electricity up to 5 kW. The lowest score is awarded to projects that will install renewable energy technologies for electricity generation with a capacity of more than 5 kW but not more than 10 kW, ”the agency said in its responses.
According to A. Jonaitytė, the application selection method is competitive, so the application submission time does not affect the calculation of points.
According to the agency, the interest in this support was very high. Currently 1,550 applicants have already obtained support, another 2,500 are on the reserve list and support will be provided after additional funds have been allocated. For this, the Ministry of Energy has contributed an additional 2.4 million. money.
“This decision was made in view of the large number of applications received. In total, around 4050 applications were positively evaluated and the amount of support requested is 11 million euros,” says A. Jonaitytė.
Additional funds are expected to be allocated in about a month.
[ad_2]
