PIUS-Invest
Grants for commercial small and medium-sized businesses in Hessen to introduce resource-saving production methods and business processes that cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Αυτή η ευκαιρία είναι προς το παρόν διαθέσιμη στα Αγγλικά.
PIUS-Invest supports new or significantly improved production and service methods, or new ways of organising business practices, workflows and relationships. The investment must reduce resource use or close material loops along the process chain, cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
The current grant covers 10–30% of eligible project costs. Projects need at least €100,000 in eligible costs. Grants normally cannot exceed €500,000; higher awards are possible where there is a special interest of the state of Hessen.
Staff costs are calculated as 20% of direct non-staff costs. Overheads are calculated as 7% of eligible direct costs, including the staff allowance. These percentages determine eligible costs; the grant rate is then applied to those costs.
Projects normally have 24 months to complete, with extensions possible in justified exceptional cases. A project approved and completed within one calendar year is supported only in justified exceptional cases. Eligible expenditure must normally be paid by 31 December 2028; WIBank may allow an extension to 31 December 2029.
The grant reimburses costs already incurred. Productive investments by SMEs must remain committed to the funded purpose for three years from the final grant payment. Keep separate project accounts or an accounting code, acknowledge EU support in project communications and retain supporting records through 31 December 2035.
Eligibility
- Your business must be a commercial SME with its business seat or an establishment in Hessen. Projects normally take place in Hessen; carrying out the project elsewhere requires approval from the authority managing Hessen’s European Regional Development Fund (EFRE) programme. Natural persons cannot receive funding under this guideline.
- The EU SME test requires fewer than 250 annual work units and either annual turnover of no more than €50 million or an annual balance-sheet total of no more than €43 million. One person working full-time for a year counts as one annual work unit; part-time and seasonal work count proportionally. Include the appropriate share of partner-company data and all linked-company data when checking the limits.
- Your project must save at least 1 kg of CO2-equivalent emissions annually for every euro of grant. Calculate and document the predicted emissions savings within your business using the current state of technology. Use ESTEM, the standard material-efficiency emissions calculation tool. An approved expert must confirm expected annual savings at application and completion. If ESTEM lacks a resource or energy carrier, you may enter an emissions factor supported by its source or derivation.
- Use an energy adviser authorised for Module 1 (energy audits) of the federal energy-advice programme for non-residential buildings, installations and systems, or an adviser from PIUS-Beratung. Missing the savings targets set in your grant decision can lead to partial or full repayment.
- Routine replacement and capacity expansion are excluded. On their own, minor improvements, changes based on existing organisational methods, management-strategy changes, mergers or acquisitions, ending a workflow, changes caused only by input prices, customer retargeting, changes for a different location, routine seasonal changes and trading new or improved products do not qualify as the required innovation.
- Costs for land and buildings are excluded, except necessary building adaptations for the project. Contract research and vehicles registered or intended for registration for road traffic and primarily used for transport are excluded. Series-produced energy-generation and storage equipment, including solar PV, heat pumps and batteries, is also excluded.
- Your business must not be an enterprise in difficulty. This includes insolvency or meeting the legal conditions for insolvency, a rescue loan not yet repaid or a rescue guarantee still in force, or an ongoing restructuring plan. For limited-liability companies, subtract accumulated losses from reserves and other equity components: the company fails the loss test if the resulting negative amount exceeds half its subscribed capital. Where some owners have unlimited liability, the test instead concerns losses of more than half the recorded equity. The capital/equity loss tests do not apply to SMEs less than three years old. An unfulfilled EU order to repay unlawful aid also excludes support.
- Other public funding must not pay for the same costs twice or exceed combined state-aid limits. If additional non-repayable public grants for the same project are exceptionally allowed, the EFRE grant must account for at least 60% of all grants.
How to apply
- Κατάσταση
- κλείνει 30 Δεκ 2026
- Ανοίγει
- Κλείνει
- Όροι του κύκλου αιτήσεων
- Applications use the selection procedure in the January 2026 call; awards depend on available funds.[^c18][^c20][^c27]
Register in the WIBank customer portal and submit the electronic application before starting work. Attach a project sketch, the environmental selection-criteria form and the expert-signed confirmation of your figures, including the ESTEM calculation.
Work may start once your application reaches the portal. You carry the financial risk: submitting an application gives no right to a grant.
WIBank ranks projects by expected annual emissions savings divided by the requested grant. Projects with stronger savings per euro rank higher. Particularly circular product design or low land use can add 0.1 to that score. Awards depend on the available budget. Incomplete and late applications are excluded; provide any further evidence requested by WIBank within its deadline.