The Minister of Energy Virgil Popescu announced the launch in the public debate of aid schemes for energy infrastructure projects and the rehabilitation of heating networks, financed through the Modernization Fund.
The first is the state aid scheme for investments in energy infrastructure, within the key program 5 – High-efficiency cogeneration and modernization of district heating networks. This includes support for the modernization and construction of high-efficiency cogeneration plants and for the modernization of district heating networks.
Another scheme is the one regarding the modernization/rehabilitation of the intelligent heating network. This is addressed to administrative-territorial units and thermal energy transport and distribution operators who propose investments in the distribution of thermal energy from the level of centralized heating systems, in order to increase the thermal comfort of consumers, simultaneously with the reduction of costs related to energy production and consumption, “taking into account developments in the field of energy efficiency at the level of urban centers”, Virgil Popescu wrote on Facebook.
The schemes apply to projects aimed at:
- Modernization/rehabilitation of the intelligent thermal network
- Increasing the security of thermal energy supply by reducing the number of interruptions
- The creation of the necessary infrastructure for the development of new economic activities, as well as the development of the national thermal energy infrastructure to European standards applicable in the field
- Increasing energy efficiency in centralized thermal energy transport and distribution systems, by optimizing distribution/transport networks of/of the thermal agent, as well as by implementing a system of pipes equipped with a system for detecting, signaling and locating losses
- Rational use of thermal energy resources by reducing losses
- Minimizing the negative impact on the environment
- Reduction of maintenance costs of thermal energy distribution networks
- Digitization of thermal energy distribution networks by collecting and maintaining all the data necessary for the technical and geo-referential modeling of the network elements
State aid schemes enter into force on the date of approval and apply until December 31, 2030, with a total allocated budget of 200 million euros, non-refundable amounts from the Modernization Fund.