September 16 (SeeNews) - The Bulgarian innovation ministry said on Friday it approved contracts for the disbursement of a total of 70 million levs ($35.7 million/35.8 million euro) ) in EU-backed grants to help Bulgarian micro-, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) boost their energy efficiency.
As many as 692 contracts were electronically signed in bulk by the ministry, as part of the Innovation and Competitiveness operating programme 2014 - 2020, the ministry said in a press release.
This is the first tranche, with a second upcoming tranche due to give the green light to another 300 contracts, bringing to over 93.3 million levs the amount negotiated under the grant procedure to date.
The companies will have 12 months from the date of the signing to implement the improvements. The maximum individual project amount provided under the grant programme is 150,000 levs.
The financial boost is being provided to firms in the processing industry so as to assist them to make repairs and purchase new equipment such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems that will lower energy use.
The overall amount of energy efficiency grants available under the programme is 136 million levs.
The MSMEs were approved as grant recipients last month.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)