The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, through the Agency for Rural Investment Financing, announces the launch of the application submission session for financing support for investments in new capacities for the production of electric energy from renewable sources for self-consumption by enterprises in the agricultural and food industry sector:

Date and time of closing the competitive bidding procedure: December 15, 2023, at 23:59.

The allocation set for 2023 is 150 million euros, depending on the installed capacities at the enterprise level:

• 100 million euros for installed capacities of less than 1 Megawatt (MW), including 10 million euros for wind energy and 90 million euros for solar energy;
• 50 million euros, including 10 million euros for wind energy and 40 million euros for solar energy, for installed capacities greater than 1 MW.

The value of the state aid is 100% non-refundable, and potential beneficiaries can submit multiple projects, only if the investments target different consumption locations, within the limit of 20,000,000 euros per beneficiary.

Funding requests for the State aid scheme supporting investments in new capacities for the production of electric energy from renewable sources for self-consumption by enterprises in the agricultural and food industry sector can be submitted on www.afir.ro.

The State aid scheme supporting investments in new capacities for the production of electric energy from renewable sources for self-consumption by enterprises in the agricultural and food industry sector is financed from the Modernization Fund, managed by the Ministry of Energy. The administrator of the state aid scheme is the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, through the Agency for Rural Investment Financing.

It is specified that, for wind energy, the funding is a maximum of 1,400,000 euros/MW for installed capacities of less than or equal to 1 MW and a maximum of 700,000 euros/MW for installed capacities greater than 1 MW.

For solar energy, the support value is up to 1,000,000 euros/MW for installed capacities of less than or equal to 1 MW and up to 500,000 euros/MW for installed capacities greater than 1 MW.

Eligible beneficiaries: agricultural enterprises, enterprises in the food industry sector, agricultural companies, as well as organizations/federations of organizations in the field of land improvement.

IMPORTANT:

To support beneficiaries, Ministerial Order no. 493/2023 was approved, amending the Energy Scheme regarding the proof of registration in the company's statute, among other things, for activities related to the production of electric energy corresponding to division 35:

"Production and supply of electric and thermal energy, gas, hot water, and air conditioning," CAEN class 3511 – Production of electric energy, will be presented at the time of contracting.

For the preparation of the documentation required for accessing this funding, potential beneficiaries have the Applicant's Guide and the annexes to the State aid scheme for renewable energy on the official website of the Agency, www.afir.ro, in the Financing section.

The final version of the Applicant's Guide, version 3, applicable to the open session from November 20 to December 15, 2023, includes clarifications and additions regarding the scope, beneficiary category, and project eligibility.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The Applicant's Guide for the State aid scheme supporting investments in new capacities for the production of electric energy from renewable sources for self-consumption by enterprises in the agricultural and food industry sector, Version 3, provides the following clarifications to support potential beneficiaries.