Romania makes available to investors almost 600 million euros for the realization of new capacities for the production of electricity from wind and solar energy by 2024. The Ministry of Energy has launched in public debate two sets of documents, one for wind projects with sizes from 0.4 MW to 25 MW, respectively photovoltaic projects with sizes from 0.4 MW to 40 MW, and one for projects larger than 25 MW for the production of electricity from wind sources, respectively larger than 40 MW for the production of electricity from solar sources. Aid for large projects must be notified to the European Commission for prior approval, a step which is not necessary for small and medium-sized projects.

The amount of state aid granted under the installed scheme is maximum

• 650,000 euros / MW for wind energy
• 425,000 euros / MW for solar energy

and is expected to total 245 million euros for large projects (around 9 beneficiaries, around 30 million euros per enterprise) and 353 million euros for small and medium-sized projects (around 25 beneficiaries, around 15 million euros per enterprise).

In the case of large projects, the eligible costs are the costs necessary to build new electricity generation capacity from renewable sources of wind or solar energy with or without electricity storage facilities. A detailed analysis of the net additional cost is not required in the competitive bidding procedure, the application of the criteria in the technical and economic evaluation grid attached hereto, providing a reliable estimate of the minimum aid needed for potential beneficiaries. (see Specific Guide in RO!)

For medium-sized projects (over 1 MW), the eligible costs are the additional investment costs necessary to promote the production of energy from renewable sources, determined “in relation to a similar, less environmentally friendly investment, which would have been credibly made in the absence of aid. This difference between the costs of the two investments makes it possible to identify the costs related to renewable energy and constitutes eligible costs. ” (see Specific Guide, in RO!)

For small projects with installed capacities between 0.4 and 1 MW, all investment costs are eligible costs.

For the selection of beneficiaries, the Ministry of Energy will apply a competitive bidding procedure, in two stages. The selection board will check the administrative compliance of the tender and will publish the list of accepted tenderers and rejected tenderers respectively.

Potential beneficiaries will determine the amount of state aid requested, which must be less than or equal to the amount resulting from the application of the calculation methodology for eligible costs. The technical-economic evaluation of the offer will take into account the criteria established in the technical-economic evaluation grid. The offer that will have the lowest value of the requested state aid will obtain a maximum score (75 points), and based on this offer, the score corresponding to this criterion is calculated for the other offers. Subsequently, the total score for each bid is calculated by summing the scores obtained for each criterion.

Following the technical-economic evaluation, each offer will receive a score between 0 and 100 points. The bids will be ordered according to the final scores obtained and entered on the list for funding, starting with those with the highest score, to cover the budget allocated for this scheme.

After the completion of the technical-economic verification process of all the bids submitted within the competitive bidding procedure, the Ministry of Energy will publish the list of the bidders selected for financing, respectively with the rejected bidders. State aid is granted after the signing of financing contracts.

The documents will remain in the public consultation for 10 days, and the Minister of Energy Virgil Popescu specified that more calls for projects will be launched at the end of March. “I am confident that this money will be accessed and we will have completed projects starting in 2024,” the minister wrote on his Facebook page.