Ministry of Economy of Montenegro, in cooperation with United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Italian Ministry for Environment, Land and Sea (IMELS), implements the project MONTESOL, aimed at offering an attractive and sustainable financial mechanism for obtaining a retail loan to install Solar Water Heating (SWH) systems. For the MONTESOL project, funds in the amount of 1 million USD were envisaged for project implementation and management and specifically to subsidize the interest rate of commercial banks.

OBJECTIVES OF THE MONTESOL PROJECT

• Significant economic and energy saving
• Loan for installation of solar systems with a 0% interest rate
• To ensure ensure financial institutions’ participation by reducing the risk in entering into a new market segment
• Creation of a market for utilization of solar energy
• Contribution to overall reduction of emission of harmful gasses.

BENEFITS PROVIDED BY THE PROJECT

• Possible individual loans range up to 5000€, with a repayment period of 7 years, with a 0% interest rate. Saivngs during the summer are 100% of the energy required for water heating,
• Simplification of all procedures and administrative channels in order to facilitate quick and efficient approval and disbursement of the SWH loan, including the reduced loan processing fees,
• Eligible dealers/installers shall provide 7 (seven) year warranty period (except for guarantees of 5 (five) years on the tank and 10 (ten) years on the collector) for any complete or partial failure (except in improper working conditions), 
• Dealers/installers are responsible for maintenance services of the installed system during the warranty and after warranty period.
• Independent technical inspection will check the quality of installed solar systems.

MECHANISM OF THE MONTESOL PROJECT

The Ministry of Economy transfers funds in advance to banks, partners in the project (NLB Montenegrobanka and Hypo Alpe Adria bank). Funds are designated for interest rate subsidy up to 0%. Bank transfers the approved amount of the loan on the account of the dealer/installer based on submitted invoice/bill. Selected eligible dealers/installers of solar systems install and maintain solar systems for customers. Customer repays to the Bank the interest free loan in equal monthly installments. 

ELIGIBLE DEALERS/INSTALLERS AND SYSTEMS

Detailed table with information about companies and approved systems you can download here.