FINANCING FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES COMPANIES IN POLAND. CALL FOR APPLICATIONS HAS STARTED
publication date: February 13, 2023
The Polish National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management has announced another call for applications for co-financing under the priority program Energia Plus. Entrepreneurs can apply for co-financing, e.g. to renewable energy sources.
The goal of the Energia Plus program is to reduce the negative impact of enterprises on the environment by supporting investment projects. The budget allocated to support investments in the fourth call for proposals has just been announced and amounts to PLN 566.9 million.
The co-financing may be used by entrepreneurs within the meaning of the Entrepreneurs’ Law Act conducting business activity.
While the Energia Plus program assumes partial granting of co-financing in the form of non-repayable grants, the fourth call for proposals will cover only co-financing in the form of preferential loans. The co-financing conditions are to be subject to negotiations between the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management and the beneficiaries each time.
What does the co-financing concern?
• Construction, extension or modernization of existing production installations or industrial equipment, leading to a reduction in the consumption of primary raw materials (as part of own production lines), including by replacing them with secondary raw materials, waste or leading to a reduction in the amount of waste generated.
The funds obtained from the Energia Plus IV program can be used for the following projects:
• Projects leading to the reduction of harmful emissions into the atmosphere from combustion plants indicated in Directive 2015/2193 on the limitation of emissions of certain pollutants into the air from medium combustion plants (MCP Directive) – at least to the emission standards resulting from this directive.
• Projects aimed at improving air quality by reducing emissions from fuel combustion sources with a total fuel capacity of more than 50 MW – at least to the national emission standards for installations of such capacity or levels resulting from Best Available Techniques (BAT) conclusions, if they are specified for these sources, including, for example: modernization of equipment or equipping fuel combustion installations with devices or installations to reduce gaseous and particulate pollutant emissions. A combustion source is understood as a stationary technical device in which the combustion of fuels with a fuel capacity greater than 1 MW takes place.
• Projects aimed at improving air quality by reducing emissions to the atmosphere from industrial activities (not directly related to fuel combustion sources).
• Projects in accordance with the announcement of the Minister of Climate and Environment of November 30, 2021 on a detailed list of projects to improve energy efficiency, aimed at improving energy efficiency, as well as technological changes in existing facilities, installations and technical devices, with the exception of: modernization or replacement of devices used to transport products and semi-finished products as part of the technological process (e.g. forklift trucks, technological haulers or goods lifts), devices intended for home use (e.g. washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, refrigerators, cookers or ovens) and vehicles for road or rail transport.
• Projects related to the construction or reconstruction of generating units, including their connection to the distribution/transmission grid, in which the following are used to produce energy: a) energy from renewable sources, b) waste heat, c) heat from cogeneration, excluding heat generated in a coal-fired cogeneration unit, d) low-emission gaseous fuels, gas mixtures, synthetic gas or hydrogen.
• Modernization/expansion of heating networks.
Deadlines and amounts
Applications in the fourth call for proposals in Energa Plus will be available from February 1, 2023 to December 13, 2024 or until the allocation of funds is exhausted.
The implementation of the Energia Plus program is planned for the years 2019–2030, with the signing of contracts to be completed in 2027, and the funds to be spent by the end of 2030.
The total budget of Energia Plus is PLN 4 billion, of which PLN 3.95 billion is earmarked for repayable forms of financing, and PLN 50 million for non-repayable subsidies.
