The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) supports your measures to increase energy efficiency as part of the Energy Efficiency Funding Competition.
You can receive funding of up to EUR 5 million for measures focusing on the following areas:
- Use of efficient technologies for process and procedure optimization,
- energy optimization of production processes
- Utilization of waste heat,
- measures on equipment for heat supply, cooling and ventilation used in product manufacture and further processing
- energy-efficient provision of process heat or cooling,
- Avoidance of energy losses in the production process.
- Provision of process heat from:
- Solar collector plants,
- biomass plants,
- heat pumps.
- Use of sensor technology, measurement and control technology (MSR) and associated software for the
- documentation,
- monitoring and
- regulation of the energy consumption of the optimized plants and processes.
You will not receive funding for:
- Measures,
- that are required by law,
- which are ordered by a public authority
- which have already been started,
- that do not result in direct energy savings in processes,
- which cannot be clearly and predominantly assigned to a process,
- which fall within the scope of the Energy Saving Ordinance,
- which concern primary agricultural production
- for research and development,
- for energy savings that you achieve by curbing production,
- for CO2 savings, which you achieve largely by replacing fossil fuels,
- such as the purchase of a vehicle for use outside the company premises,
- to plants subsidized under the Act for the Preservation, Modernization and Expansion of Combined Heat and Power Generation (KWKG),
- to the modernization of existing cogeneration plants with the exception of measures that make previously unused heat potential of the waste gas streams usable,
- to plants that can be subsidized under the Renewable Energies Act (EEG), with the exception of plants for the provision of process heat from the above-mentioned renewable energies.
- Plants
- that you have purchased second-hand
- for heat generation from coal or oil
- the cogeneration of heat and power with the exception of above-mentioned plants for the provision of process heat from renewable energies,
- which can be subsidized according to the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), with the exception of plants for the provision of process heat from above-mentioned renewable energies,
- technologies and products that you produce yourself
- Heat networks, which can be subsidized according to §18 KWKG.
The subsidies are distributed in a competition. Whether or not you receive funding as part of the competition, as well as the exact amount of funding, depends on your planned project:
- You decide yourself which funding amount you apply for the planned measure.
- The projects with the highest annual CO2 savings per euro applied for will receive the funding.
You can be reimbursed up to 50 percent of the eligible costs.
Eligible costs are:
- all costs that you incur within the grant period for the implementation of the measures, in particular also the costs for
- the preparation of a savings concept
- the implementation of the subsidized measures with the help of an external energy consultant.
Not eligible are expenses such as
- Personnel and operating costs,
- production costs,
- taxes, levies and charges.
You can have the funding paid out quarterly, but only up to 50 percent of the approved funding amount. The remaining grant funds can only be paid out once you have completed your measure and your proof of use has been checked, for which you must keep all invoices and receipts relating to the eligible costs. You must also prove how much energy you were able to save through the implemented measures.
Your application for funding will be processed by VDI/VDE Innovation + Technik GmbH. You are not entitled to the grant.
Tip:
It is best to seek advice from an energy efficiency expert before submitting your application for funding. As a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME), you can apply for subsidies for this from the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA) via the "Energy Consulting for SMEs" program.
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