The Ministry of Environment and Energy has announced the program titled “Upgrade of Equipment for Businesses” with a budget of €105.6 million. euro. This initiative is implemented within the framework of the action “Save – Do Business”, supported by the Recovery and Resilience Fund.
The objective of the program is to improve the energy efficiency of businesses and reduce primary energy consumption and consequently carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by at least 30% for each enterprise.
With this in mind, eligible businesses will receive support to install energy-efficient equipment, including:
- Heating systems using heat pumps (including solar thermal systems to enhance the efficiency of heat pumps and through heat storage)
- Solar heating systems
- Smart energy consumption measurement devices (behind the network meter)
- o Other energy-saving interventions through the installation of energy-efficient equipment and systems for energy savings in production, storage, product distribution, and company operation.
Eligible Applicants:
The program is aimed at existing businesses – small (including very small), medium, and large – operating in Greek territory with a Greek VAT number, active at the time of application submission, and established by December 31, 2023.
These businesses may submit one and only one funding application per VAT number. Additionally, they must have issued the 1st Energy Performance Certificate (EPC– (EPC – or Energy Audit, if required based on expenditure categories)of the investment implementation installation or submit it within 20 days from the submission of the temporarily submitted participation application.
Amount of Support:
The exact amount of the subsidy will be determined, taking into account the size of each enterprise, the subsidy percentage, and the maximum budget of eligible expenses.
Specifically, for improving their energy efficiency, small businesses can apply with a maximum budget of eligible expenses of €20,000.
The subsidy rate is set at 50%, so they can receive up to €10,000.
Medium and large enterprises, respectively, can submit applications with a maximum budget of eligible expenses of €25,000. In their case, the subsidy rate is 40%. Therefore, interested businesses can also receive up to €10,000 in support.
Eligible Expenses:
Each funding application pertains to the support of:
Equipment expenses:
Purchase of a new heating system using heat pumps
- Purchase of a new solar heating system
- Purchase of smart energy consumption measurement devices (behind the network meter)
- Other energy-saving interventions
Service expenses:
Execution of necessary additional works for the installation of new equipment (e.g., transportation, installation, customization of the new equipment such as heat pump, solar thermal system, solar heating system, smart meter, etc.)
- Issuance of two EPCs for the installation implementation of the investment declared in the application
- Implementation of an Energy Audit (before the start of the investment and subsequently, respectively, of the process for EPCs), which is eligible only in cases where there are expenses in the category of other energy-saving interventions.
VAT is not eligible, nor are maintenance and repair expenses of equipment already used by the business.
The start date of expenditure eligibility is defined as the publication date of the detailed announcement of the program and the end date of expenditure eligibility is the deadline for implementing the investment, based on the integration decision.
The duration of the interventions’ implementation in each application cannot exceed 6 months from its approval in the program.
Application Submission:
Businesses wishing to participate can submit their application through the electronic platform .
The program will apply the method of direct evaluation (First in-First out). The application submission period will be determined at its announcement.
