Ministry launches EUR 500 mln call for solar power-generation capacities with integrated storage

The Energy Ministry has launched a EUR 500 million call to support investments in new solar-energy electricity-generation capacities with integrated storage, for self-consumption by public entities.The call will run online through the Rural Investment Financing Agency's IT system, with applications accepted from 28 September, 10:00, until 20 November 2026, or until the budget is exhausted, in the order of submission. Project selection will follow the "first come, first evaluated, subject to the guide's requirements" principle, the Ministry said.Project evaluation will take place between 23 November 2026 and 2 March 2027, and contracting will begin as projects are approved, starting 8 February next year. Investments must be completed and operational by 31 December 2029.Eligible applicants include: territorial administrative units and their subdivisions; units and subunits in the national defence, public order and national security systems; penitentiary-system units; publicly funded hospitals; public institutions under Law 500/2002; officially recognised religious denominations and their units; state higher-education institutions; national institutes, research institutes, centres and stations of public law; Intercommunity Development Associations; social centres and publicly funded palliative-care centres; the National Sports Agency and the institutions reporting to it; the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee and its subordinate institutions; the Romanian Television Company and the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company, insofar as they perform a public-service mission financed as existing aid under EU state-aid rules.Beneficiaries must demonstrate that the financed investment will reduce the energy costs required for delivering the entrusted public service and consequently lower the subsidy/compensation paid by the state.The call is financed entirely through non-reimbursable funds from the Modernisation Fund.Eligible activities include: purchase of new installations/equipment for building new solar renewable-energy electricity-generation capacities with integrated storage; purchase of heat pumps; construction works related to the investment project; installation and commissioning costs for equipment used to build new solar-energy capacities with integrated storage.Funding covers up to 100% of eligible costs, up to EUR 10 million per beneficiary (including partnership participation).The maximum public-aid value per installed MW is: EUR 900,000/MW (VAT excluded) for projects without heat pumps; EUR 1,100,000/MW (VAT excluded) for projects including heat pumps.