The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) promotes measures to increase energy efficiency in companies.
You can receive funding for the following measures:
- electric motors and drives,
- pumps for industrial and commercial use
- fans,
- Compressed air systems and their higher-level control systems
- Systems for waste heat utilization or heat recovery from waste water,
- Insulation of industrial plants and plant components,
- frequency converters.
You will not receive any subsidies
- for measures prescribed by law,
- if you have already started with the measure before submitting the application.
If you want to buy energy efficiency equipment or aggregates, then you can get a loan of up to EUR 25 million.
The amount of the subsidy for the repayment of the loan depends on the size of your company:
- small and medium-sized enterprises (up to 249 employees and annual sales not exceeding EUR 50 million or total assets not exceeding EUR 43 million): 40 percent of eligible costs,
- large companies (250 and more employees and annual sales more than EUR 50 million or total assets higher than EUR 43 million): 30 percent of eligible costs.
Eligible costs are:
- All costs for implementing the measure,
- Incidental costs for planning and installation.
With this funding, the eligible ancillary costs are limited to a maximum of 30 percent of the investment costs.
You can receive a maximum of EUR 200,000 repayment subsidy.
You will only receive the repayment subsidy once you have completed your measure. To do this, you must prove
- that you have spent the money from the loan on the measure,
- that the measure technically fulfills its purpose.
You must keep all invoices and receipts related to the eligible costs.
The applications for the subsidy are processed by the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW).
You are not entitled to the subsidy.
Note on other program funding options:
You can also apply for a direct grant from the German Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA) via the "Bundesförderung für Energieeffizienz in der Wirtschaft" funding program (apply for a grant for high-efficiency systems or aggregates).