The Environment Fund Administration (AFM) currently has 8 programs underway. Two of them are related to fleet renewal (Rabla Clasic and Rabla Plus), a third to encouraging the acquisition of home appliances with low electricity consumption (Rabla program for home appliances). The other five mean a total budget of RON 3.4bn, which could start being invested since 2022.
The “Energy Efficient Home” program was launched in September 2020 and published in August 2021 the first list of beneficiaries. Other 5 lists followed, for a total of 343 projects approved and a total allocated budget of RON 17.1mln. The average value of approved funding was at the end of November RON 50 thousand, 71% compared to the maximum level that can be granted through this project. The “Energy Efficient Home” program has a budget of RON 430mln available, for now allocated at a rate of only around 4%. AFM covers maximum 60% of the costs of works of energy efficiency of buildings owned by individuals, including works such as thermal rehabilitation of buildings, installation of heating systems and domestic hot water system, centralized mechanical ventilation systems, modernization of lighting systems, introduction of glazed joinery and shading systems.
The program was taken over by some large energy service providers, such as ENGIE Romania, and is expected to have a favorable evolution in 2022.
The “Energy efficiency in public buildings” program was launched on September 20, 2021 and applications for funding are expected until April 19, 2022. The program is addressed to all administrative-territorial units and public institutions subordinated to/coordinated by the local public administration. The available budget is RON 1.4bn and funding is granted at a rate of maximum 100% of the eligible expenses, within the limit of the amounts that can be granted for each category of applicants: from RON 3mln, for communes with less than 5,000 inhabitants, to RON 10mln for large municipalities. Each district of Bucharest has RON 12mln available. The beneficiaries can use the funds to modernize and increase the energy efficiency of public buildings, while contributing to improving the quality of the environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as well as reducing annual primary energy consumption and promoting the use of renewable energy sources.
Here too, through the involvement of large companies, such as Enel X Romania, the program is expected to start in force in 2022.
From November 25, 2021, interested public authorities can submit projects to be funded through the “Public Lighting” program, which has a new budget of EUR 500mln. In 2020, 271 municipalities were accepted in this program and received funding totaling over RON 145mln. 387 municipalities were accepted in the program in 2021, for which a total amount of almost RON 225mln was approved. Therefore, a strong advance in terms of number of beneficiaries (42.8%) and amounts offered by AFM (55%).
The program supports the administrative-territorial units to obtain funds in order to improve the public street lighting system by using more efficient technologies that significantly reduce energy consumption and, implicitly, the public bill. Funding is granted at a rate of maximum 100% of the eligible expenses of an investment item and within the limit of the amounts that can be granted for each category of applicants: from a maximum of RON 1,000,000 for communes with less than 5,000 inhabitants to a maximum of RON 6mln for large municipalities. For Bucharest, the maximum ceiling is RON 25mln. “Registrations in the application are made within the limit of 150% of the budget allocated to the program,” AFM specified
According to the president of the Administration, Lorand Fulop, both the program and its implementation method were improved this year. “First of all, we digitized the entire process, so the entire procedure is carried out exclusively online. This is a major advantage for the beneficiaries, which are no longer forced to go to the AFM headquarters with hundreds of pages of documents or lose hours in queues, as has been the case in previous years. At the same time, we reduced the deadlines and streamlined the analysis procedure, allowing beneficiaries to begin implementation as soon as possible. Another important novelty is that at the moment the program also provides for extension or completion of existing systems, and not just their replacement”, said Lorand Fulop.
Initiated in September 2016, the “Green Infrastructure” program aims to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in transport, by promoting the infrastructure for green transport vehicles: charging stations for electric vehicles in localities. The AFM website indicates four projects completed in 2018, funded through this program with over RON 555 thousand. Two other projects were completed in 2019, in the funding of which AFM contributed with a total of RON 194,360. Therefore, in total, only RON 750 thousand, through a program that provided RON 70mln, amount which would have covered the installation of about 420 normal-power charging stations and other 420 fast charging stations. The new form of the program has a budget of RON 500mln, available for 11 categories of public institutions and administrative-territorial units. Funding is granted at a rate of 100% of eligible expenses, with a maximum amount of RON 190,000 allocated for the installation of a recharging station. AFM can also grant payments representing advance, but no more than 30% of the contract value. The IT application in which the applications can be submitted, by March 31, 2022, will allow the registration of applicants only until the moment of reaching the threshold of 150% of the total budget allocated.
If it enjoys more success, the “Green Infrastructure” program version 2021-2022 could cover the installation of at least 2,630 new charging stations in Romania.
The new edition of the “Green Home – Photovoltaics” program is also scheduled to begin on December 20, 2021. The allocated budget is constituted from what remained unused so far. Energynomics calculations show that the first session of the program will not manage to spend more than RON 300mln from the budget of RON 536mln, even if the interest of beneficiaries is significant.
The first session was strongly criticized by the potential beneficiaries for the excessive bureaucracy and the long duration of analysis of projects, the serious problems with the operation of the IT application and the change of rules during the evaluation procedure. Also, the reimbursement of the amounts is made with a significant delay.
In the last part of 2021, AFM communicated the approval of 566 files, meaning total funding of other RON 11.3mln. At the end of November, AFM application shows that 13,686 funding files are submitted and the amount of requested funds exceeded RON 537mln. Most applications came from Bucharest-Ilfov region (2,203) and the fewest from the South-East Region (1,250).
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This article first appeared in the printed edition of Energynomics Magazine, issued in December 2021.
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