At the same time, a scheme to make small- and medium-sized enterprises was presented.

Speaking at an online conference, Pilides explained that these projects will be subsidised by the government to €90 million in 2021, and to €400 million over the seven years between 2021 to 2027.

“We’ve seen that renovations and upgrades in Cyprus are moving forward well as part of the movement towards going green. Accordingly, we will do our best to speed up processing of applications,” Pilides noted.

The plan for upgrading homes to make them more energy efficient targets natural persons, owners of existing homes living permanently in Cyprus, and apartment buildings – these must make a single application on behalf of all owners, who must be natural persons (that is, not companies).

Eligible actions covered by the Plan include consulting services, thermal insulation of the house shell, replacement of windows, installation of shading systems as well as the installation and / or replacement of technical systems (such as solar, photovoltaic, air conditioners, storage batteries, automations etc).

For both residences and apartment buildings, only one grant may be applied for per building.

In the first phase, an amount of 30 million euros will be allocated for the needs of the project, to cover the purchase and installation of materials and equipment for energy efficiency.

The residences for which the application is submitted, must meet the following eligibility conditions:

• To have an electricity supply account from the EAC with household pricing. and this account must belong to a natural person.
• The application for planning permission must have been submitted before 21 December 2007.
• The residence must be located in areas under the control of the Republic of Cyprus. Homes located in areas of the British Bases are not covered by this Plan.
• The energy efficiency category of the house must be “C” or lower according to the labelling system established by EU Directive 92/75/EC.
• The applicant must not have received a grant through the Plan “Saving – Upgrading to Homes” of FP 2014-2020 or from the Fund of Renewable Energy Sources and Energy Saving for the same eligible costs.

The plan “Strengthening the Competitiveness of Small- and medium-sized enterprises in the manufacturing sector and other targeted economic activities” will make funds available for new or existing companies of this type. Companies targeted are those in the manufacturing sector, as well as new or existing enterprises operating in activities such as the food and beverage sector, chemicals and laboratories, testing of industrial products, product design and preparation of prototypes for industrial production purposes, production of edible and inedible ice, dismantling services for waste products or machines, recycling of metallic and non-metallic waste and scrap or steam cleaners.

Source: Cyprus Mail