A third scheme encouraging Maltese households to invest in photovoltaic panels was launched by Resources Minister George Pullicino, yesterday.

Up to 2,000 families can benefit from the EU-funded scheme and applicants will get back up to 50 per cent (maximum €3,000) of the cost of the system.

They will also be paid for the energy they feed into the national grid at a rate of 25c per unit for Maltese households and 28c per unit for Gozitan households.

Although launched yesterday, those interested have ample time to “shop around”, as the scheme opens on July 25 and closes on August 3.

In the meantime the government will be issuing a tender to lease 67,000 square metres on government buildings for the installation of PV panels by a private developer.

This would include a public participation mechanism encouraging families who do not have a roof onto which to install the panels, to invest in part of the project. Asked about the pending installation of export metres for families who invested in the previous partly government-sponsored photovoltaic scheme, Mr Pullicino said the ministry could not do anything about the money lost when these households were feeding the grid.

A two-month industrial action by the General Workers’ Union over a collective agreement dispute, lifted in mid-April, had repercussions for those who installed PV systems: they either did not generate electricity for the grid or were illegally connected to it without export meters.

“Unfortunately, citizens were the ones hit badly by the industrial action. The GWU should have never ordered that industrial action,” the minister said.

However, he said those who had submitted the final paperwork by April would be refunded by the end of July.

Mr Pullicino added that if the panels of the previous schemes’ beneficiaries were to be placed next to each other, they would cover six football grounds.