Eligibility

Many Romanian companies are eligible to apply for a loan, free technical consultancy and 15% grant using the EU EBRD Energy Efficiency Finance Facility.

Here are the main eligibility criteria:

The applicant must eligible, meaning

1. Creditworthy - the participating bank's normal lending rules must be satisfied.
2. From the private sector - or, at least 50% privately owned
3. Not from certain ineligible sectors - such as arms and real estate development.

The investment must be eligible, meaning

1. Investments by industrial, agro-industrial or agricultural companies that yield at least 20% energy savings, such as:
   • More efficient production - by improving or replacing production lines or processes
   • Process improvements that save energy
   • New equipment that is more energy-eficient than the equipment it replaces
   • Steam distribution improvements - such as steam traps, condensate recovery
   • Heat recovery from processes
   • Boiler improvements - such as automation, economizers, burners, insulation
   • Automation and control systems
   • New/better chillers
   • Variable speed drives
   • Compressed air systems improvements
   • Power distribution systems improvements
   • Energy Management Systems or Building Management Systems
2. Investments by any company that improve the energy efficiency of its building by at least 30%, such as:
   • Insulation of walls, roofs and floors; rolling doors; new windows etc
   • Replacement boilers, heating, ventilation or cooling systems
   • Energy-efficient lighting systems
   • Renewable energy for buildings, such as biomass boilers and solar collectors
3. Co-generation of heat and electricity (CHP) by a company from any sector to meet its own energy needs
   • Subject to case-by-case approval by the EU

Certain investments are not eligible for EEFF financing

• New buildings that are subject to national energy efficiency standards;.
• Real estate and land investments for short or medium term profit on sales;
• Refinancing of existing debt
• Hydroelectricity and wind power.
• An investment that also benefits from another EU grant - e.g. from structural funds - is not eligible to benefit from an EEFF grant. The same company may benefit from both - but not for the same investment.
• It is normally not possible to use the EEFF to finance part of an investment costing more than 2.5 MEUR. The EU may permit the EEFF to be used for larger investments on a case-by-case basis if the energy savings are exceptionally good, but only the first 2.5 million EUR will be considered to be an EEFF sub-loan that is eligible to receive the corresponding 15% EU grant.
• A company may take more than one loan/grant from the EEFF, but the combined total may not exceed 2.5 million EUR of loans and 375,000 EUR of grants.

This page represents a short digest of the full eligibility rules.

If you are not sure whether your investment is eligible, please contact the EEFF Help Desk - 031 224 8104 - eeff@eeff.ro.