Small heat recovery and air recirculation grant
A grant for businesses, organisations and municipalities recovering heat from refrigeration or ventilation, or reducing heating demand through air recirculation in Austria.
Denne finansieringsmulighed er i øjeblikket beskrevet på engelsk.
Recover heat from cooling, freezing, process-cooling or air-conditioning equipment, or from eligible ventilation equipment. You can also install air recirculation that measurably cuts heating energy use, such as extraction with air returned to a welding or cutting hall. The installation must be used predominantly for business purposes.
The support is a one-off investment grant that does not normally need repaying. Eligible costs include equipment, planning and installation. For heat recovery, the calculation is €160 per kW for the first 30 kW and €80 per additional kW below 100 kW. For recirculation it is €600 per 1,000 m³/h of nominal airflow. The grant is limited to 30% of eligible material, installation and planning costs. Municipalities receive 60% of the calculated business grant, capped at 18% of eligible investment costs; qualifying municipal market operations use the business rules.
This is de-minimis aid: businesses generally have a €300,000 ceiling for such aid over three years, unless a separate de-minimis regime applies. Declare aid already received in the online application. Agricultural primary production uses its separate agricultural regime.
Eligibility
Businesses and other organisations carrying out economic activities, associations, religious institutions, public-law bodies and Austrian municipalities can apply. Foreign companies can also qualify, but the investment must be at an operating site in Austria. Ordinarily, the applicant makes the investment and is named on the invoices; special financing arrangements have separate rules.
Subordinate departments of the Austrian federal government are excluded. Measures carried out to fulfil sovereign duties of the federal administration are also excluded.
- The heat exchanger must have a thermal capacity strictly below 100 kW. A heat pump used to access the waste heat is excluded. Recirculation must have nominal airflow strictly below 50,000 m³/h and deliver measurable heating-energy savings.
- Ventilation heat recovery required by the current OIB Guideline 6 building energy rules is excluded. The excluded costs also include recovery in new or renewed supply-and-extract ventilation for heated or cooled ("conditioned") buildings covered by those rules. Recirculation conversion or replacement must not be required by an authority or workplace law.
- Ordinary equipment replacement, extraction-system ducts and pipework, extraction branches, heat distribution inside the building and the applicant's own labour are excluded. Air filters are eligible only for recirculation systems.
- Buildings used predominantly as permanent private housing are excluded. In mixed-use buildings, business use must exceed 50% of heated gross floor area; subordinate residential areas can then be supported.
- A municipal operation seeking the business rate must meet the “Betrieb mit marktbestimmter Tätigkeit” test: recover more than 50% of costs under the European System of Accounts, keep full accounts including assets and liabilities, and have substantial freedom to make decisions about its main function under an organisational statute adopted by the municipal council. If in doubt, the applicant must provide confirmation from the competent municipal supervisory authority.
- Agricultural projects qualify only if they are not eligible under agricultural funding. Declare whether the project concerns agricultural primary production, because this changes the applicable de-minimis regime.
- Installations receiving tariff or investment support under the Erneuerbaren-Ausbau-Gesetz (EAG) are excluded; simultaneous EAG and environmental funding is prohibited. For existing industrial or commercial installations in the EU emissions trading system, environmental investment costs must not exceed €2 million. Existing ETS installations generating electricity or heat for third parties are excluded.
Comply with provincial building rules and public procurement law where it applies. For leasing, hire purchase or similar financing in this post-completion route, only the installation's user can receive the grant. The asset must pass into their ownership, or the agreed financing term must match the useful life specified in the grant contract. Payment cannot exceed deposits and instalments actually paid by final accounting, excluding interest and fees.
Operate the funded equipment for at least ten years and keep the final accounting verifiable for ten years after project completion. Breaching grant obligations can require repayment.
How to apply
- Status
- Løbende ansøgning
- Vilkår for ansøgningsrunden
- Apply after project completion, within six months of the invoice or final invoice for the main equipment or components.[^c6]
Complete the project, then apply online directly to Kommunalkredit Public Consulting (KPC) through the linked small heat recovery form. Submit within six months of the invoice or final invoice for the main equipment or components; the invoice date starts the clock.
Upload the signed grant accounting form, an official photo ID and itemised invoices for eligible costs. The invoices must state heat-exchanger capacity or airflow; include a technical datasheet. Lump-sum invoices without a breakdown of the work cannot be accepted. If you finance the equipment through a contracting company, you are its contracting customer; the contract must establish who owns the equipment. This financing arrangement differs from simply hiring an installer. For contracting or leasing, also provide the financing contract and proof of instalments already paid.
KPC assesses the complete application. After approval, it sends the payment letter that establishes the grant contract, followed by payment to your account. Contract duties continue after payment and may be checked.