Mexico: 25,000 “Solar Roofs” Programme
Small thermosiphon systems are in the focus point of the new 25,000 Solar Roofs Programme of the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) in Mexico.
After several months of rumours, it is now official: The German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) will start its 25,000 Solar Roofs programme in Mexico. From the beginning of 2010 on, residential home owners, who want to buy a solar water heating installation, can apply for a subsidy of around EUR 100 per system – independent from the size of it. The GTZ programme resembles the subsidy model from Germany, called Market Incentive Programme. The sponsoring body is the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), responsible for the implementation in Mexico is the GTZ.
The budget of the Mexican version is EUR 2.5 million. The German agency limited the subsidy to EUR 100 for an average system size of 2 m2 per solar water heater. “Households with a small income, which normally could not buy a solar water heater, should benefit from the programme,” states the official project description.
The 25,000 Solar Roofs for Mexico programme is organized by the public mortgage bank Infonavit, which also grants green loans, called “Hipoteca Verde”, to private buyers of solar thermal systems. It is set to expire in September 2012.
For many years, the GTZ has supported the development of the solar thermal market in Mexico. Back in August 2007, the German organization established the Procalsol programme in cooperation with the energy agency (CONAE) and the solar energy association (ANES), in order to speed up growth in the solar thermal market – with the ultimate goal of setting up 1.8 million m2 of new collector area between 2007 and 2012. This objective is still far away if one compares this figure with the number of newly installed glazed collector area of about 120,000 m2 last year.
More information: http://www.gtz.de/de/weltweit/lateinamerika-karibik/mexiko/27815.htm
