An MEP has tabled a bill in Parliament that provides for state-guaranteed, interest-subsidised loans of up to 10,000 euros to finance energy efficiency works in the private residential sector.

“The proposed funding scheme has potentially 500,000 beneficiaries, and about half would access these financial sources to become prosumers,” said Pollyanna Hangan, MP for Hunedoara, at the conference “Energy Efficiency for Energy Transition” organised in București by Energynomics together with the Romanian Energy Efficiency Fund – FREE and the Directorate for Energy Efficiency within the Ministry of Energy.

According to the project, the purchase of photovoltaic panels, heat pumps, electricity storage batteries and thermal insulation works could be financed.

Hanganu added that around three million homes in Romania are suitable for rooftop photovoltaic panels, and citizens are concerned about energy efficiency to combat the effects of constantly rising costs. The installed capacity of photovoltaic plants in individual homes in Romania is 1 GW.

“Although the efforts of citizens have been remarkable, state support in this direction is still undersized and inconsistent very often. But these should be priorities. Citizens have become not only the beneficiaries of these energy efficiency measures, but also important actors who can contribute significantly to Romania’s energy efficiency, environmental and energy for the future goals,” said Pollyanna Hangan MEP.

The conference in Buvharest was the last of a series of 5 scheduled by the Energynomics communication platform, the Romanian Fund for Energy Efficiency – FREE and the Directorate for Energy Efficiency within the Ministry of Energy. The project was financed by Norwegian Grants 2014-2021.