The business environment and local authorities have access this autumn to considerable sums granted from European funds and through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) for energy efficiency, renewable energy production and digitization projects. At the same time, both local authorities and private companies have an extremely high interest in attracting these funds, especially for digitization, the installation of photovoltaic panels and building insulation.
“We are in an extremely effervescent period. It is money for both public and private investment. We can say that this is the autumn for financing. Town halls can turn into energy producers,” said Roxana Mircea from the REI consulting firm, which has managed around 1,000 projects so far, of which over 800 have already been implemented.
Given the short deadlines for submitting projects and subsequently making investments, next year will represent a challenge for importers, installers and assembly companies. Funds for energy production targeting for municipalities amount to 500 million euros. Half of the amount is aimed at financing projects for the production of renewable energy for self-consumption, a category that will also include energy produced by photovoltaic panels mounted on the roofs of schools and hospitals, and the other half is directed towards projects for the delivery of energy produced in the power grid.
“75 calls for projects are being prepared. It’s crazy, everyone wants to do renewable energy production, but time is very short. The projects must be completed by December 2023, but if the beneficiary, regardless of whether it is the town hall or a private company, pays for the equipment from its own money, they can be finalized in 2024 as well”, added Mircea, at the conference “Sustainable Communities – Iasi”, organized by Energynomics and SmartiCity.
In the private sector, there is a strong trend of over-contracting for green power generation projects. On the financing axis dedicated to the private sector, especially for companies in the agri-food sector, bakery, pastry, meat and dairy products, there are funds of 179 million euros left unused from older projects, and these funds will be able to be extended up to a total of 290 million euros.
According to Mircea, funds for investments in digitization are expected by the entire private sector. The budget for such projects is also 500 million euros, of which 350 million euros will be directed to small digitization projects. At the same time, another 500 million euros are available to finance projects for the production of green energy and energy efficiency projects such as the cladding of blocks and the installation of photovoltaic panels for self-consumption. Through this program, companies can access up to one million euros, respectively 500,000 euros for building cladding and 500,000 euros for photovoltaic panels.
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“Even if the biomass it was removed from the financing scheme, the factories are extremely interested in these financings. Those who do not qualify now, can wait and re-submit the project in the spring of 2023. At the same time, other funds of 300 million are available through programs run by the Ministry of Economy”, added Mircea.
REI Grup consists of three companies, REI Finance Advisors, REI International, Touched Marketing, and has 80 employees and 11 regional offices.
The conference “Sustainable Communities – Iasi” was organized by Energynomics and SmartiCity with the support of our partners: ABB, Eaton Electric, Enel X, ENGIE Romania, Flash Lighting Services, Geminox, REI Grup.