Czech households can now enjoy a renewed and better support for the greening of buildings.
The Czech Ministry of the Environment has announced the prolongation of a popular subsidy program New green savings.
Since its inception in 2016, the program has been supporting the construction of low-energy housing together with renovations aiming at increasing energy efficiency of the current housing stock. Green roofs could also receive funding of as much as 800 CZK/m2 (31,50 EUR) if they were installed on renovated buildings or low-energy newbuilds. The new program, however, has abandoned this condition and green roofs are now generally supported on family houses with floor area lower than 350 m2 and on apartment buildings. Moreover, the subsidy can now also finance the greening of ancillary buildings on the same plot pertaining to the use of the main building such as free-standing garages or garden houses.
The new program introduces a differentiation of 700-1000 CZK (27,5-39,5 EUR) based on the type of green roof (extensive, semi-intensive and intensive) and a roof pitch (pitched roofs receive higher support than flat roofs). The maximum support is capped at 100 000 CZK (3950 EUR) for family houses and 300 000 CZK (11880 EUR) for apartment buildings and at no more than 50 % of eligible costs.
The new program has put several subsidy programs under one roof: it covers energy-efficient renovations, passive houses, replacement of heat sources, rainwater and grey water management, installation of renewable sources of energy, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, wastewater heat recovery, shading, charging stations and green roofs. This has enabled the introduction of a combination bonus which applies when several measures are used together on one house. The applicant is thus entitled to a one-off bonus of 10 000 CZK (395 EUR) for each combination of measures they use and the overall financing limit is raised to 60 % of eligible costs. The combination bonus thus serves as encouragement to use as many measures as possible and supports solutions such as biosolar roofs (green roofs with PV panels).
Applications can be submitted only electronically using a digital identity certificate. The subsidy program is financed by the Czech National Recovery Plan under post-covid NextGenerationEU financing. In the future, the Modernization Fund and revenues from the sale of emission allowances will also be used to keep the subsidy program running.
Author: Pavel Dostal
Prague, November 2021