Spain’s aid for small municipalities

Last updated: 2 August 2023

As part of Spain’s Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, the Spanish government has created a specific aid mechanism for small municipalities called “DUS 5,000”. Spain’s depopulation trend is concentrated in rural areas. The scheme therefore provides subsidies to aid small municipalities (with less than 5 000 inhabitants) improve energy efficiency and promote sustainable mobility in rural areas. A total of 6 974 municipalities meet the eligibility criteria, accounting for 14% of Spain’s total population. The DUS 5000 aid programme is geared towards entities undertaking local clean energy projects in these municipalities, such as energy efficiency projects in public and residential buildings and public infrastructure – notably public lighting – as well as sustainable mobility, by promotion by municipalities in the deployment of electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The DUS 5000 programme has a budget of EUR 75 million, financed through the European Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, will run until November 2022. This scheme is complemented by another mechanism called “PREE 5,000” which aims to promote energy efficient building retrofits in rural areas. Both programmes are administered by the Institute for Energy Savings and Diversification (IDAE) a decentralised agency of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO).

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