Romania benefits from a historic influx of funds intended to co-finance investments in energy efficiency and in the generation of electricity from renewable sources, but these funds should not be seen “as an El Dorado”, and the companies that access them need good projects.
“Today we have a historic moment that should not be missed. We have never had so much money in the market. However, there are also problems with their management. At the Ministry of Energy, for example, there is an urgent need to supplement the staff. You can’t manage budgets of billions with a few dozen people. However, this is not an El Dorado”, said Roxana Mircea, managing partner of REI Grup, during the conference “Digitalization and Energy Efficiency – Cluj-Napoca”, organized by Energynomics.
Mircea referred to several co-financing programs through various European programs of energy efficiency projects and energy production from renewable sources.
Through the NRRP, only the available grants amount to 12 billion euros, through the cohesion policy another 30 billion euros will be allocated, and another 14 billion euros are available for the energy sector. For example, Romania has an allocation of 550 million euros for the installation of photovoltaic parks for commercialization or self-consumption.
Another 347 million euros are available through the SME digitization program, but a program for large companies is also being prepared. Also, on December 6, the project submission session for the recycling area, which benefits from a budget of 286 million euros, will begin.
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“We have already started preparing the projects. The maximum funding is 20 million euros per project”, stated Mircea. REI focuses on public sector clients because private sector activity is contracting or potential beneficiaries are more cautious. At financing of 65% or 70%, they were not as eager as in other years”, Mircea also said.
Mircea stated that companies interested in accessing such funds should prepare in advance and define their objectives so that they don’t waste time when the project selection sessions open. “We still see companies that pay advances and don’t have projects submitted at all, or they are submitted badly, and then a story is created in the market that [the support schemes] don’t work. (…) However, we ask them to submit projects, and if they have problems with covering their own part of the financing, they can give them up without any fuss”, she added.
The “Digitalization and Energy Efficiency – Cluj-Napoca” conference was organized by Energynomics with the support of its partners: Eaton Electric, Elgeka-Ferfelis Romania, Enel X, EnergoBit, Kawasaki Gas Turbine Europe, MET Energy Romania, REI Group, Photomate, Volt, Wiren.