Malta Enterprise appears to have ignored a letter by five suppliers of photovoltaic systems who want to know why the EU-funded scheme to help businesses invest in solar energy was suspended.
The letter, sent through the legal office of the Malta Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises at the beginning of September, has so far remained unanswered.
Alternative Technologies Ltd, Bajada New Energy Ltd, CD Power Solutions Ltd, Primesolar Srl and Solar Solutions Ltd want tangible reasons for Malta Enterprise’s decision to “arbitrarily” stop the €5.5 million scheme.
The European Regional Development Fund energy grant was meant to provide financing for commercial enterprises to invest in power-saving measures and alternative energy sources.
Eligible enterprises could have received part finance on PV installations having a minimum kiloWatt peak (kWp) of 20kW. The value of the grant would not exceed 50 per cent of the eligible cost, up to a maximum of €120,000 per project.
The scheme had set off on the wrong foot when only five suppliers were chosen from the 40 that originally applied for accreditation through Malta Enterprise.
To be considered eligible, companies had to meet a set of conditions that included a turnover of at least €200,000 in the last financial year.
They also had to prove they employed at least one warranted electrical engineer or had a service contract with one or two authorised electricians.
They also had to demonstrate that over the past three years they had installed a number of PV systems with a total of at least 100kWp, with one system larger than 20kWp. They also had to have at least three full-time employees.
The scheme had been suspended last year following a police investigation into irregularities.
On August 13, Malta Enterprise announced that it had cancelled the scheme, this time because of “technical problems in the pre-selection of suppliers”.
The chosen suppliers were not happy with this reason and wrote to Malta Enterprise asking for more information.
Questions sent to Malta Enterprise remained unanswered by the time of writing.
mxuereb@timesofmalta.com