The Regional Development Agency Center (ADR Centru) is preparing a funding programme for energy efficiency projects in single-family buildings. The institution is in talks with the European Investment Bank to create a financial instrument offering up to 30,000 euros for such projects, said Gabriela Țârău, head of service at the agency, at the conference “Digitalization and energy efficiency – Brașov 2024” organised by Energynomics and the Italian Chamber of Commerce for Romania.
“We have a financial instrument dedicated to SMEs for energy efficiency. We are working with the European Investment Bank and have a 24 million euros allocation. We will focus on increasing the energy efficiency of single-family residential buildings. Each beneficiary will receive up to 30,000 euros to increase energy efficiency,” said Mr Țârău, adding that the instrument will be available in 2025.
At a later stage, the ADR Centru will also provide support for similar investments in residential blocks. In this case, the funds available are 17 million eurosand the maximum allocation for a project is 2.5 million euros.
It will also launch a call for projects for digital communities in 2025, with an allocation of 20 million euros. Potential beneficiaries will be SMEs and public authorities.
According to Gabriela Țârău, there is a great interest in energy efficiency initiatives, a segment in which the institution has received, as of October 2022, a total of 1,368 projects and the regional allocation has exceeded 230%.
On the other hand, we have to accept that the European funds earmarked for building renovation and energy efficiency projects will never be sufficient, given the growing needs, said Nicolae Mărginean, Director of Communication of ADR Centru.
“Let’s be realistic. European funds help, but they will never be enough. That is the reality. They can never be enough because the needs are growing and then each mayor, each householder prioritises their investments. Of course, it also depends on institutional capacity,” said Nicolae Mărginean.
However, ADR Centru promises to get the funds needed to renovate the buildings as part of the new European Bauhaus.
The “Renovation Wave” strategy, also dubbed the New European Bauhaus by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, aims to facilitate the energy-efficient renovation of up to 35 million buildings by the end of 2030, combining “style with sustainability”.
These investments would create up to 160,000 additional jobs in the green construction sector.
The conference “Digitalization and energy efficiency – Brașov 2024” was organised by Energynomics and the Italian Chamber of Commerce for Romania, with the support of our partners: Bepco, Exim Banca Românească, ICAP CRIF, Intesa Sanpaolo Bank, Polytrade Global, SolarX Power, Unicredit Bank, WALDEVAR Energy, WEBUS 4 ENERGY.