Romania allocates EUR 500 million to help public institutions become prosumers

Romania’s Ministry of Energy has launched a EUR 500 million subsidy scheme to help public institutions and organizations install renewable energy facilities for self-consumption and become prosumers. The grants, provided through the European Union’s (EU) Modernisation Fund, are intended for financing the construction of new wind, solar or hydropower capacities.

The beneficiaries of the subsidy scheme will include local authorities, military units, sports associations, and educational, cultural and health care institutions, according to local media. The renewable energy facilities will generate power for public lighting as well as for lighting and electricity consumption within buildings.

The scheme offers grants of up to EUR 20 million per project or beneficiary

The scheme offers individual grants of up to EUR 1.4 million per MW of installed capacity for wind projects, EUR 1.1 million per MW for solar installations, and EUR 1.8 million per MW of hydropower capacity. The aid cannot exceed EUR 20 million per project or per beneficiary. The rest of the project costs are to be covered by the applicant.

The EU’s program is aimed at helping 10 member states meet their 2030 energy targets

The Modernisation Fund is an EU program aimed at supporting 10 member states to meet their 2030 energy targets. The beneficiary countries are Romania, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia, Poland, Portugal, and Greece.

Romania plans to boost subsidies for household prosumers to EUR 2 billion

Earlier this year, Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae-Ionel Ciucă announced that the country’s budget for subsidies for households to install solar panels and become prosumers would be doubled to EUR 2 billion.

The country expects to have 100,000 household prosumers by end-2023

Previously, the Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) said it expected the number of prosumers to jump from some 40,000 to 100,000 this year, compared with a mere 303 households, firms and institutions with such a status at the end of 2019.