The Ministry of Energy submitted for public consultation the State aid scheme (the "Financing Scheme") on supporting investments for the development of energy storage capacities (batteries) with financing from the Modernisation Fund. The initiative aims to promote investments in batteries for the storage of energy produced from renewable sources (i.e. solar, wind and hydropower), which are capable of operating independently, to create a competitive market in this field.
Compared to the old battery financing scheme (available here), the current approach aims to develop individual storage units that participate in the energy market by performing a price-weighting function, i.e. absorbing and storing energy when market prices are low and feeding it back into the grid when market prices are high.
The total estimated budget of the Funding Scheme is EUR 150 million. The implementation period is until 31 December 2029, with payments due until 31 December 2030, and a minimum of 8 beneficiaries will be selected based on a competitive tender.
The state aid may cover up to 100% of eligible expenditure, with a maximum of EUR 10 million per company and EUR 100,000/MWh of installed storage. Eligible costs include investments in the equipment necessary to build the storage facilities, excluding operating costs. After the conclusion of the financing agreement, the beneficiary will not be able to receive further public funding for the same expenditure.
A company may apply for one or more projects up to a maximum of EUR 10 million per project, under the condition that beneficiaries only apply individually.
A company shall be eligible if, inter alia:
▸ demonstrates the technical and financial capacity to sustain the activity; ▸ has not previously received public funding for such activities; ▸ is a company set up in accordance with the legislation of Romania or the EU Member State of origin (e. micro-enterprise, small and medium enterprise, large enterprise or autonomous administration) and registered with the Romanian Trade Register by the date of the first payment, the latest; ▸ Its articles of incorporation include activities related to producing and commercialising energy, corresponding to Division 35 of the NACE code classification.Companies operating in the fisheries and aquaculture sector are not eligible.
Projects must meet certain eligibility criteria, including, but not limited to:
▸ they must be aimed at the construction of new stand-alone BESS storage facilities; ▸ they must not have received public funding except for preliminary studies; ▸ work on the project must start after the submission of the funding request. Land acquisition and preparatory work, such as obtaining permits/authorisations and carrying out feasibility studies, are not considered to be the start of work.There are also projects excluded from funding, such as those:
▸ involving combined technologies, i.e. renewable energy production and storage; ▸ involving batteries based on lead, NiCd or NiMH technologies; ▸ proposing the replacement of old storage capacities; ▸ that have received funding for storage capacities from other funding programmes; ▸ submitted in partnership.The selection criterion in the competitive tender is based on the amount of state aid requested for the project, i.e. the amount of state aid in EUR per MWh.
Please note that the Funding Scheme makes numerous references to the Applicant's Guide, but the document has not yet been published, so important information on eligible expenditure, eligibility conditions, and how to apply for funding is unavailable.
We will revert with further details once the final form of the Financing Scheme has been adopted and the Applicant’s Guide has been published.
