On September 6, amendments to the Recovery Fund Support Programme were approved at the Cabinet of Ministers meeting, according to which companies will have access to financing for energy efficiency improvements, wider use of renewable energy (RES) technologies, as well as acquisition of zero-emission vehicles, which were developed in accordance with the proposals provided by the European Commission during the coordination of the support programme. As a result, the finance institution “Altum” will start accepting company projects already this autumn.
The amendments to the support programme provide that projects submitted by companies will be compared in open tenders (it was previously determined that the evaluation of projects would take place on a first-come, first-served basis), where projects leading to the largest reductions in greenhouse gas emissions or reductions in primary energy, when calculating per support of EUR 1,000, will receive a higher score.
Projects will be accepted in three selection rounds starting this autumn, with each selection organised for two months (with prior publication of the notice on the beginning of the selection round on the website www.altum.lv). In each selection round, EUR 8,583,613 is earmarked to support energy efficiency of companies, support solar panels, etc. EUR 15,000,000 will be earmarked for RES self-consumption and EUR 1,666,666 – for the purchase of electric vehicles only for exporting manufacturers.
Similarly, these amendments provide for support only to exporting manufacturing enterprises for the purchase of zero-emission vehicles, i.e. new M1 and N1 category vehicles, which by their design use energy from electricity stored in the vehicle as their only mechanical driver and whose greenhouse gas emissions are 0 g CO2/km (hereinafter referred to as electric vehicle). It should be noted that an electric vehicle of category M1 has not more than eight seats in addition to the driver’s seat and there is no space for the carriage of standing passengers, whereas an electric vehicle of category N1 with a maximum mass not exceeding 3.5 tons is mainly intended for the carriage of goods.
When acquiring an electric vehicle, the entrepreneur will receive from the finance institution “Altum” a guarantee for the receipt of a lease payment from a leasing service provider and, upon reaching the targets initially set in the project, a capital rebate – a reduction of the lease payment – will be applied to the lease payment. The maximum permissible capital rebate will not exceed EUR 5,000 for the purchase of an M1 electric vehicle and EUR 15,000 for an N1 electric vehicle, not exceeding 30% of the costs of the electric vehicles. The capital rebate, which can be granted to one company for the purchase of all electric vehicle defined within the project, will be up to 30% of the costs of electric vehicles, but not more than EUR 180,000.
The support for increasing energy efficiency and introducing RES technologies will be available to businesses as a loan from the financial institution Altum or a parallel loan from Altum with a capital rebate for the repayment of the principal amount – the maximum loan amount is 5 million euro with a loan maturity of up to 20 years. The support will be granted as a capital rebate or the financial institution Altum will reduce the amount of the loan by 30%, but not more than by 1.5 million euro, after the energy efficiency improvement or RES implementation project is implemented and the target indicators are reached.
Companies will be able to receive the loan for the performance of reconstruction or renovation works that increase the energy performance of non-residential buildings, as well as the purchase of energy-efficient production and ancillary equipment to replace existing, less energy-efficient equipment. It is also envisaged that funding may be invested in the renovation, reconstruction or creation of building engineering systems, the recovery of secondary energy sources from technological production processes, as well as the deployment of renewable energy technologies such as solar panels, wind generators, biomass and other technologies.
The available funding from the Recovery Fund is EUR 25.75 million for the implementation of energy efficiency improvement measures, EUR 45 million – for the transition to renewable energy technologies and EUR 5 million – for electric vehicles.
Detailed information regarding amendments to Regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 340 of 7 June 2022 “Implementing Regulations of Measure 1.2.1.2.i.1 “Improvement of energy efficiency in entrepreneurship (including transition to using renewable energy technologies in heating supply)” of investment 1.2.1.2 i “Improvement of energy efficiency in entrepreneurship (including transition to using of renewable energy technologies in heating supply and research and development activities (including in bioeconomy))” of reform and investment direction 1.2 “Improvement of Energy Efficiency” of the European Union Recovery and Resilience Facility Plan” can be found in the single Legislation Portal.