Romania launches EUR 458 million grant scheme for wind, solar power

Electricity producers in Romania have until May 31 to apply for a total of EUR 457.7 million in state support for the construction of wind and solar power plants with or without storage.

The Ministry of Energy in Bucharest has launched a call for renewable energy production projects within an aid scheme funded from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP or PNRR in Romanian). Companies registered as electricity producers can apply for up to EUR 15 million per solar or wind power plant with or without storage. The planned capacity must be larger than 0.2 MW.

Applications can be submitted by the end of May and the beneficiaries will be picked through a competitive bidding procedure, according to the authorities. There is EUR 457.7 million in the budget for the aid scheme, which aims to help increase the country’s renewable energy capacity by 950 MW, Minister of Energy Virgil Popescu said.

The state aid scheme for solar power plants and wind farms is aimed at increasing Romania’s renewable energy capacity by 950 MW

The solar and wind power plants must be completed and connected to the network by mid-2024. Projects to replace older capacity are not eligible, nor are those for the expansion of existing units.

The maximum amount of state aid for wind farms is EUR 1.3 million per megawatt for facilities with a capacity between 0.2 MW and 1 MW, and EUR 650,000 per megawatt for bigger power plants. As for solar parks, subsidies are as high as EUR 750,000 and EUR 425,000 for the same two respective categories.

All projects must come online by the end of June 2024

The support mechanism was introduced for micro, small, medium-sized and large enterprises. They must be solvent and not under bankruptcy proceedings, suspension or investigation, with all taxes and fees paid.

The National Recovery and Resilience Plan is split into EUR 14.2 billion in grants and EUR 14.9 billion in favorable loans, all under the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility, part of an emergency financing package adopted alongside the bloc’s seven-year budget.

In total, 1.62 billion euros are allocated for energy. The clean energy production component is worth EUR 855 million, which should cover the coal phaseout, deployment of renewables and the introduction of hydrogen.