Valencia, Spain offers subsidies for geothermal, other renewables
The Hemispheric in Valencia, Spain (source: Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Carlo Cariaga
15 Jan 2024
The province of Valencia, Spain has offered subsidies for projects that utilize renewable thermal energy, including geothermal and hydrothermal.
A call for aid has been issued for renewable thermal energy projects in the residential, industrial, and agricultural sectors in the province of Valencia in Spain. The total budget for the thermal renewable energy program, which is part of the European Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan, is EUR 10.24 million.
The Valencian Institute of Business Competitiveness (Ivace) has declared a deadline for application for the incentives until 31 July 2024.
Manuel Argüelles, the General Director of Energy and Mines, clarified that 35% of the cost for eligible projects can be covered by the aid. This can be increased by 10% for small companies, and 5% for medium-sized companies.
Moreover, projects in sites with demographic challenges can apply for an additional 5% of funding coverage. This applies in municipalities with 5,000 or fewer inhabitants, or non-urban municipalities with up to 20,000 inhabitants in which all their individual population entities have up to 5,000 inhabitants.
Councilor Nuria Montes has highlighted the Council’s commitment to the decarbonization of the economy and energy autonomy, stating that the urgency needs to be compatible with good development of renewables from the environmental, social, and economic perspectives.
Eligible projects
Projects that utilize geothermal energy, hydrothermal energy, aerothermal energy, solar thermal energy, or biomass can apply for the grant. District heating and/or cooling micro-grid projects are also eligible.
Among the thermal applications supported are:
- domestic hot water
- air-conditioning
- heating and cooling either directly or through heating and/or cooling micro-grids
- thermal baths for surface treatment
- pasteurization and conservation of perishable products
- air-conditioning of industrial warehouses
- livestock and greenhouses
- supply of laundry services
- vehicle washing
- boiling, sterilization, cleaning, drying, washing, bleaching, steaming, pickling, cooking, leaching
