The Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) has opened two calls for aid for pilot projects for energy communities (CE IMPLEMENTA programme), with 40 million euros, which will promote social innovation and citizen participation in renewables, energy efficiency and electric mobility.
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These are two of the first calls for proposals under the Strategic Project for the Recovery and Economic Transformation of Renewable Energies, Renewable Hydrogen and Storage (PERTE ERHA) and are expected to enable the implementation of around 40 renewable energy, electric mobility and demand management projects.
The BOE publishes the two calls for aid, whose deadline for submitting applications will begin on 1 February and will remain open for one month, until 1 March.
They form part of component 7 “Deployment and integration of renewable energies” of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR) for the implementation of Next Generation EU funds, which identifies energy communities as a key player in the energy transition.
Two calls for proposals
The EC-IMPLEMENTA programme aims to support more than 40 innovative energy community initiatives through two calls. The first one allocates ¤10 million to small projects, which are expected to promote more than 21 innovative initiatives, while the second one provides ¤30 million to boost almost twenty medium and large projects. In the call for small projects, the investment may not exceed one million euros per project, while in the second call all projects must exceed this investment.
The Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE) will be responsible for managing this aid, which will be granted on a competitive basis and will cover up to 60 % of the eligible costs of the project. This competition will prioritise, on the one hand, multi-component and innovative projects, i.e. those that integrate installations of different types, combining renewable electrical energy, thermal energy, energy efficiency, sustainable mobility and/or demand management, with the aim of encouraging the adoption of solutions in sectors that are more difficult to decarbonise. Furthermore, special importance will be given to the social and gender impact of energy communities, the inclusion of vulnerable consumers as partners or members and the development of projects in municipalities with demographic challenges and those included in the Just Transition agreements.
Eligible projects
Those legal entities, public or private, that promote the participation in the energy sector of actors that have not traditionally participated in it, by means of projects in five areas of action, will be eligible for aid:
Electric renewable energies
Thermal renewable energies
Energy efficiency
Sustainable mobility
Demand management
In the area of electrical renewable energies, actions associated with biomass, biogas or other renewable gases, wind, hydro and solar photovoltaic will be eligible. In thermal renewables, aid is envisaged for aerothermal, biomass, biomethane, geothermal, hydrothermal and solar thermal projects.
In the field of energy efficiency, the improvement of the thermal envelope is included, as well as sustainable mobility projects, such as the acquisition of electric vehicles and the implementation of charging infrastructures.
Finally, with regard to demand management, aid is provided for storage behind the meter, new uses of vehicle batteries (second life of batteries) and demand flexibility services.
Eligible costs include the administrative or management costs of the application and justification of the aid, the preparation of the technical projects, the costs of drafting the specifications and the execution of the works, as well as investment in equipment and materials.
The aid will be granted in the form of a non-repayable grant, which will be definitively received by the beneficiary once the project has been carried out and the investment has been certified. In order to facilitate the financing of the projects, 80% of the aid granted may be advanced.
Green energy, citizen participation and the demographic challenge
Energy communities are entities that do not seek financial profitability; they are set up to promote and facilitate the active participation of consumers in the energy system and improve energy management through governance based on the open and voluntary participation of their members. They are also controlled by members with links to the territory so that the environmental, economic and social benefits they provide are directly reverted to the environment in which they are set up.
Their impact goes beyond the energy sector, as they help in the fight against climate change and energy poverty and promote social improvements in the community, making them a particularly interesting figure for municipalities with demographic challenges. As they are close to the territory, they know its sensitive points and the advantages they can offer, while helping to boost local activity, generate employment and fix the population. They are therefore in line with the government’s commitment to just transition and the fight against depopulation.
Energy communities can be existing groups or cooperatives, which enter the energy field, or new ones created for this purpose; they can also be collective projects, such as citizen groups that promote a small solar or wind farm on the outskirts of a municipality, or more comprehensive projects that combine different technologies.
Energy communities also make it possible to extend the cooperative culture to the energy sphere, both in the generation and consumption of energy, as those who form part of them are, in turn, producers and consumers of their own clean energy, which results in greater democratisation of the energy system and significant savings for the end consumer.
Energy communities in PERTE-ERHA
These calls for aid for pilot projects are part of the EC IMPLEMENTA programme of the plan to promote energy communities, with a budget of 100 million from the PRTR. They are also two of the first calls of the PERTE ERHA, a comprehensive programme of instruments and measures to develop technology, knowledge, industrial capacities and new business models that reinforce Spain’s leading position in the field of clean energy.
PERTE ERHA will mobilise an investment of more than 16,300 million euros, including contributions from the Recovery Plan and private funds. In general, financial support will be granted through competitive calls to select the best projects.