Last year, the SolidarSolar funding program entered its second round. A total of €70,000 from the Green Electricity Fund was available for the funding program. These funds were again intended to enable non-profit institutions and organizations to implement their own projects for the expansion of renewable energies and energy efficiency. Potential applicants could receive grants for this purpose. Citizens' energy cooperatives and cooperative or municipal building societies were also eligible for funding under the program.

The first projects have now been implemented with the support of the subsidies: Just in time for the beginning of the sunny spring, the photovoltaic system of the Catholic parish of St. Martin Idsteiner Land went online. A total of 26 photovoltaic modules with a total output of 9.36 kilowatts peak were installed on the roof of the Catholic Bishop Dürich Home. Both the rectory and the neighboring Catholic parish now benefit from the self-produced solar power.

In the period from 2014 to 2016, SolidarSolar was able to successfully implement over 20 projects with the help of the grants, such as the citizen solar system on the elementary school in Mackenbach. With our funding program, we would like to support non-profit organizations in particular and improve their participation in the energy transition. They are the backbone of civic action and often lead the way when it comes to sustainable, future-oriented lifestyles and social change. This is precisely where we see great potential for demonstrating the positive effects of using solar energy and bringing it further into the mainstream of society: Energy generation with added value locally, without the consumption of finite fossil fuels and the associated damage to the environment and the climate - environmentally friendly, resource-conserving and decentralized.