Free thermal modernization for removing a smokestack. Communities will receive a 100% refund.

• A new program of the Provincial Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management in Szczecin is dedicated to former state-owned farm local governments.
• The program will enable free thermal modernization for getting rid of a solid fuel furnace and switching to renewable energy sources.
• The Regional Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management (WFOŚiGW) has calculated that in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship there are at least 2,300 multi-family buildings in former state-owned farm towns.

During the Polish People's Republic, State Agricultural Farms (PGRs) were most numerous in Western Pomerania. They were liquidated in the early 1990s by order of then-Deputy Prime Minister Leszek Balcerowicz. To this day, thousands of residential buildings stand on the former PGR sites, which do not meet modern technological standards .

That's why a new program from the Voivodeship Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management in Szczecin is dedicated to local governments operating in former state-owned farms. It will provide free thermal modernization for eliminating solid fuel furnaces and switching to renewable energy sources , preferably in the form of a heat pump.

To date, the WFOŚiGW has signed agreements with five local governments as part of a pilot program, which will receive PLN 5 million. In total, the Fund intends to allocate approximately PLN 700 million to improving the energy efficiency of multi-family buildings. The West Pomeranian Marshal's Office is a partner in the project.

We have signed a letter of intent with the voivodeship marshal regarding the implementation of a grant program, for which West Pomerania will allocate PLN 50 million. I am pleased that municipalities will be involved in piloting the program in former state-owned farm areas, which has profound social resonance. This group most closely fits the definition of energy poverty and has not had the opportunity to make a civilizational leap forward. Hence, our action to improve the quality of life for these residents.

- says Waldemar Miśko, president of the Regional Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management in Szczecin.

Although the program hasn't gone live yet, over 70 local governments in the region have already expressed interest in it. One of them is the Biesiekierz commune.

- The idea is fantastic, because at the moment these facilities were excluded from any funding, from any possibility of obtaining funds for energy modernization - said Tomasz Hołowaty, mayor of the Biesiekierz commune, on TVP3.

The National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management (NFOŚiGW) has calculated that there are at least 2,300 multi-family buildings in former state-owned farm towns in West Pomerania . The thermal modernization program will primarily cover buildings dating back to the 1960s and 1970s. Any municipality that signs a letter of intent with the WFOŚiGW in Szczecin will be eligible for the support. Its task will be to establish a housing community and prepare it for project implementation. Nearly two-thirds of West Pomeranian local governments have already declared their willingness to participate in the program.

The projected budget for the program, which assumes the cost of modernizing 6,000 units in 1,000 buildings, is approximately €150 million. Importantly, communities will receive up to 100% reimbursement of costs, but priority will be given to those that switch entirely to renewable energy sources . The buildings, after thermal modernization, will be powered by a central boiler plant, based on ground- or air-source heat pumps supported by photovoltaic panels or a wind turbine.