The Ministry of Energy will launch in March two projects in the field of green energy, worth over 800 million euro, with financing from the Modernization Fund.
According to a press release from the institution, the two applicant guides will be released for public consultation. After receiving, analyzing and, as the case may be, integrating the proposals from the market, the consolidated guidelines will be published in the second half of February, with the intention being that, on March 1st, the two calls for projects will be launched, being open for a period of 90 days.
Thus, the Ministry of Energy continues the strategic approach to stimulate investments in green energy, after the completion of the call for local authorities.
“Quite a few have questioned the ability of the Ministry of Energy to put to work the 16 billion euro from the Modernization Fund. Here, in just a few months, we launched in December 2023 the call for public institutions to cover electricity consumption from renewable sources. These projects are in full evaluation process. In March, we will also launch these two calls, with support of over 800 million euro: support for production and self-consumption from solar, wind and hydro energy production. All these investments mean jobs, competitiveness for the Romanian private sector and lower energy bills for all Romanians, in the long term. We will continue this effort at a sustained pace, because I assumed from the beginning of my mandate the acceleration of all investment programs and the transformation of Romania into an energy hub for the entire region. In the coming period, we expect from the potential beneficiaries any suggestions for improving the financing guidelines, in order to be able to launch a new successful competition for Romania in March,” said Sebastian Burduja, the Minister of Energy.
The total budget allocated to the two calls for projects is 815 million euro, the financial support being offered in the form of a grant, within the limit of the state aid value of 20 million euro per beneficiary.
The state aid targets new production capacities of electricity produced from renewable sources and is granted to investments intended for the production of electricity from renewable wind, solar or hydro energy sources. One of the two calls encourages, in particular, the production of green energy for self-consumption of at least 70% of the energy produced.
The implementation period of the selected projects is 3 years from the signing of the financing contract, but no later than December 31, 2029.
“Since the calls for projects are competitive, the selection criterion will be the price in euro/MW. Eligible beneficiaries are micro-enterprises, small or medium-sized enterprises (including newly established enterprises), as well as large enterprises, which have included in the constitutive act activities related to the production and the sale of electricity, corresponding to division 35,” states the ministry.
At the same time, for the call for projects to support investments in new production capacities of electricity produced from renewable sources for self-consumption, the breakdown of the allocated budget by type of technology is: for wind energy – 30 million euro, the maximum amount of state aid being of 700,000 euro/MW installed; for hydro energy – 25 million euro, the maximum amount of state aid being 1.805 million euro/MW installed; for solar energy (under 1 MW inclusive) – 170 million euro, the maximum amount of state aid being 1 million euro/MW installed; for solar energy (over 1 MW inclusive) – 190 million euro, the maximum amount of state aid being 500,000 euro/MW installed.
According to the cited source, for the second call, the one dedicated to supporting investments in new electricity production capacities produced from renewable sources, the distribution of the financial allocation is: for wind energy – 100 million euro, the maximum amount of state aid being 700,000 euro/MW installed; for hydro energy – 100 million euro, the maximum amount of state aid being 1.805 million euro/MW installed; for solar energy – 200 million euro, the maximum amount of state aid being 500,000 euro/MW installed.