On Friday 16 December, the European Commission authorised a €1.2 billion Czech aid scheme to promote green and more efficient district heating, based mainly on renewable energy.
The measure will contribute to the implementation of Czechia’s National Energy and Climate Plan and to the EU’s strategic objectives related to the ‘European Green Deal’, in particular the EU’s 2050 climate neutrality objective.
The aid, which will run until 14 January 2026, will be financed by the European Modernisation Fund.
The aid will support: - the installation of new heat generation units based on renewable energy or high-efficiency cogeneration to replace existing installations; - the modernisation of the existing heat generation unit to use biomass instead of coal.
The aid will take the form of direct grants to owners of existing heat generation units and district heating systems, as well as to purchasers of new heat generation units.
Supported projects will have to achieve a minimum reduction of 15% in CO2 emissions and 10% in primary non-renewable energy consumption compared to levels before their implementation. In addition, high-efficiency natural gas cogeneration projects will be needed either to enable the switch to renewable and low-carbon gases or to implement carbon capture, utilisation and storage technologies to avoid natural gas lock-in.
The scheme is expected to increase the share of renewable energy production in the district heating sector by some 8,022 TJ/year and reduce CO2 emissions by about 889,550 tonnes/year. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)