More than 1,000 applications for a government subsidy on solar panels have been filed so far under a new scheme opened just under two weeks ago.

The scheme is proving to be a sell-out and with one more day to go till it closes, more applications are expected to come in.

The scheme, which is supported by the European Regional Development Fund, refunds half the cost of a solar panel system costing up to €6,000.

But unlike a first scheme, this time round the number of applications has not been capped. When first launched in February there was a fixed amount of 416 grants available and they were taken up within hours.

However, the scheme was suspended shortly after it closed following allegations of irregularities.

Eventually, the government announced it would re-launch the scheme again by the end of June but, on the deadline date, the Resources Ministry was forced to postpone again because similar allegations were made against a company selling solar panels.

A police investigation is still underway but the Ministry chose to launch the scheme again and modifications have been made to ensure certain loopholes in the original scheme were closed.

Applications, which will be accepted until tomorrow at 1 p.m., can be downloaded from the authority’s website www.mra.org.mt.