The Regional Development Agency Centru, which encompasses the counties of Alba, Brașov, Covasna, Harghita, Mureș, and Sibiu, has 1.4 billion euros available for energy efficiency improvements between 2021 and 2027.
“We have an aged, non-modernized and, in particular, non-energy-efficient stock (of buildings – no), which leads to high consumption, very high CO2 emissions and, in general, to a lack of efficiency. There are a lot of public buildings that require efficiency measures, consolidation and modernization”, said Adrian Purcaru, Councilor in the Urban Development Department, with the Regional Development Agency Centru, during the conference “Energy efficiency for the energy transition – Brașov”.
Auxiliary measures up to 15% of the value of the basic investment will be supported as part of energy efficiency projects. These will be carried out strictly in accordance with the needs of the buildings, such as structural consolidation works, fire protection, accessibility, and/or other works that are complementary to the basic investment and ensure the durability, operational safety, and functionality of the buildings.
The maximum value of each project is 15 million euros for public buildings and 2.5 million euros for residential buildings. Purcaru added that the first call for such projects will be launched in June for public buildings. In the case of residential buildings, the guide for attracting financing will be launched for public debate in the same month.
Through these projects, the Agency aims to improve the energy performance of 3,800 buildings, reduce energy consumption after the renovation of some public buildings with an area of 72,600 square meters and reduce CO2 emissions. The financial allocation for these projects is 101.61 million euros, of which 80.61 million euros are grants and 21 million euros come from the IF (FEDR). Potential beneficiaries are the UATs, central and local public authorities.
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“We, the Romanians, were not champions in attracting European funds, and the risks related to their absorption are quite real. On the one hand, there is a lack of human capacity training in local administrations (UATs), a lack of co-financing money from tiny town halls, but there is also a lack of enterprises and entrepreneurs to actually work on the implementation of 80 billion euro projects over the next several years. It’s a great opportunity that we don’t want to pass up. In order to see where we should target investments, we need a strategy made by experts and applied at the level of each community”, said Purcaru.
The conference in Brașov was the first of a series of 5 scheduled by the Energynomics communication platform, the Romanian Fund for Energy Efficiency – FREE and the Directorate for Energy Efficiency within the Ministry of Energy. The project is financed by Norway Grants 2014-2021.