The Maltese Government relaunched the grant scheme for the retrofitting of private buildings through an open rolling call, operational until 31 December 2024, subject to availability of funds.
Retrofitting of Private Sector Buildings
This incentive seeks to assist enterprises and voluntary organisations, through non-repayable grants, to part-finance investment to improve energy efficiency, reduce energy demand, lower carbon emissions and limit energy waste through the retrofitting of private sector buildings.
Who is eligible?
The scheme is open to micro-, small-, medium- and large-sized enterprises engaged in economic activity, irrespective of their legal form, subject to exclusions, as well as Voluntary Organisations (which are registered and compliant with the Office of the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations and the Malta Business Register (MBR)).
It is important to note that any enterprises whose principal activities fall under the following sectors and sections of the NACE Rev. 2. are ineligible for the Retrofitting of Private Sector Buildings Grant Scheme outlined above:
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (NACE: Section A) |
Manufacturing, Processing and Marketing of Tobacco and Tobacco Products (NACE: Section C12) |
Gambling and Betting Activities (NACE: Section R92) |
Energy Generation, Distribution and Infrastructure |
Training and Mentoring Activities |
Investment in the decommissioning/construction of Nuclear Power Stations |
Public Entities |
Undertakings whose activities include, directly or indirectly, the provision of any of the eligible expenditure |
Undertakings that have the internal capability to develop or retail any of the eligible expenditure |
Activities which do not respect the Do No Significant Harm (DNSH) principle (i.e. generating significant emissions) |
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What actions are eligible?
Eligible actions include any investments that reduce the Primary Energy Demand (PED) of buildings. The building renovations undertaken are to lead to a reduction of PED of at least 30%;
In case of construction and demolition, the measure also requires that at least 70% of the non-hazardous construction and demolition waste generated on-site shall be prepared for re-use, recycling and other material recovery, including backfilling operations using waste to substitute other materials; and
Any investment must be maintained for at least 3 years in the case of an SME, or 5 years in the case of a large enterprise, following the completion of the investment operations.
What expenditure is eligible?
This grant scheme supports your investments in systems and interventions on the building envelope that lead to a higher level of energy efficiency and reduce the building's energy used for:
Heating;
Cooling;
Ventilation;
Hot water; and
Lighting
For every investment, the following documents must be submitted:
- Statement by a warranted Architect or Engineer
- Identifying the useful floor area eligible for reimbursement (in square metres) accompanied by a site plan of such floor area.
- Photographic evidence of the building (from the façade)
- Describing the property including the number of floors
- Listing the interventions being proposed and specifying the projected reduction in Primary Energy Demand achievable through the proposed interventions. In those cases where no planning and other permits are required, the statement shall confirm such.
- In those cases where the investment leads to a PED reduction of at least 40%, the statement shall confirm that the investment is to improve the energy performance of the building beyond the level imposed by minimum energy performance standards qualifying as Union standards entering into force within less than 18 months from the moment the investment is implemented and finalised.
- Copies of any necessary Permits such as Planning Permits issued concerning activities for which support is being requested.
What aid will be awarded?
The maximum grant amount that an undertaking may receive is €5M. The amount of the aid is established in line with the applicable state aid intensities through a standard scale of unit cost per square metre and depends on the size, locality and reduction in percentage PED as follows:
What is the application process?
The scheme shall be administered through a series of competitive calls for eligible undertakings to submit their applications before the deadline for submission. Applications will be assessed, and eligible applications scoring at least 50% of the selection criteria shall be ranked accordingly. Grants shall be awarded starting from the highest-ranking application, subject to budget availability.
Key deadlines
This scheme will remain operational until 31 December 2024, subject to availability of funds having the following cut-off dates:
- July 31 2024;
- August 30 2024;
- October 31 2024;
- November 29 2024;
- December 31 2024
All projects must be completed by 30 June 2026 and should support the businesses in becoming more sustainable, energy-efficient and more competitive. Since the scheme operates on a reimbursement basis, the beneficiary is also required to complete a claims process throughout the project.
How can we help?
With years of experience working with EU funding schemes, our team of professionals in advisory can help you develop solutions to face your challenges and operate in a more profitable and sustainable manner. We can assist you in making value-adding decisions by identifying opportunities within your operations. We will also support you throughout the application process.
We can also support you to assess the feasibility and expected return on your investment based on different potential renovation scenarios.
Should you require any further information or have any queries on these schemes, or the support that we offer, including on entity eligibility, please do not hesitate to reach out to us for further guidance.
