Grants for biogas installations

• Projects had to be in Spain and have at least €100,000 in total eligible costs. The grant ceiling was €15 million per project and beneficiary.
• Programme 1 included companies, private universities and research centres, business consortia and cooperatives, self-employed people registered in the relevant tax-business census, and renewable or citizen energy communities. Operators, lessees, concessionaires and energy-service companies could qualify; energy-service companies needed a contract with the owner supporting their investment and operation for at least five years.
• Programme 2 included qualifying public institutions and public universities, as well as individuals and entities, including nonprofits, undertaking no economic activity. Public bodies selling goods or services belonged in Programme 1. Spain’s central state administration was excluded. Legal entities had to be validly constituted and have their tax domicile in Spain.
• Applicants needed to be current with tax and social-security obligations and outstanding grant-repayment duties. Environmental criminal convictions in the preceding five years or final sanctions for very serious environmental breaches in the preceding three years excluded an applicant; a declaration was required.
• Companies classified as undertakings in difficulty under Article 2(18) of Regulation (EU) 651/2014 were excluded and had to submit a declaration. The FAQ exempted public administrations and local authorities from the cited rescue-and-restructuring guidelines, while public entities carrying out commercial activity still had to meet the test.
• Programme 1 work could not start before submission. Programme 2 work could not start before the rules were published on 26 July 2022. A binding equipment order or other irreversible commitment counted as starting work; for public entities, publication of tender specifications was the trigger. Permit preparation and feasibility studies could take place beforehand.
• Feedstocks included separately collected municipal organic waste, sewage sludge, manure and crop residues. Crops themselves were excluded. Industrial residues required justification that no other use was viable under the waste hierarchy.
• Greenhouse-gas savings had to reach at least 80% for electricity, heat or grid injection, and 65% for transport biomethane; mixed-use installations had to meet both relevant tests. A competent technician had to substantiate savings using the prescribed methodology, or the applicant could declare use of qualifying published default values. Renewable-energy sustainability rules also applied.
• Transport biomethane was eligible only for heavy vehicles with an authorized maximum mass above 3.5 tonnes or capacity for more than nine people, and outside fuel-supply obligations. Grid-injection investment, subsequent biomethane processing and distribution infrastructure were excluded. Landfill construction costs were excluded, although use of its biogas could qualify. Wastewater-treatment costs qualified only from anaerobic digestion onward.
• Projects needed an environmental impact study and energy monitoring with visible updated output and mobile access. Combustion installations from 1 MW to below 50 MW had to meet the specified emission limits. Projects involving mechanical-biological waste-treatment plants could not increase their treatment capacity or prolong their operating life.
• Existing cogeneration routes C5/C6 required at least five years of remaining plant life. Plants receiving Spain’s specific remuneration scheme qualified only under subgroup a.1.1, with biogas below 35% of annual primary energy and no fuel other than natural gas alongside it.
• VAT, Canary Islands IGIC and IPSI were normally excluded. Programme 2 could include VAT or IGIC only where it could not be recovered or offset, even partly. Environmental impact studies and technical-project approval fees were excluded costs.
• Other public support had to stay within project costs and state-aid ceilings and be reported immediately to IDAE. EU aid could not fund the same costs twice; the FAQ allowed distinct costs not already subsidised to qualify. Biomethane already covered by green-certificate support agreements was not eligible for aided output. Programme 1 deducted that capacity, output used to meet transport obligations, non-heavy transport and flared output, with corresponding reductions to digestate-treatment costs. Later certificate use required disclosure of grants to the issuing body, including through purchasers where relevant.
• Funded assets had to remain used for their granted purpose for five years. Concessionaires had to guarantee maintenance and operation for that period. Changes to approved projects required an exceptional, justified amendment and could not increase the grant or alter its fundamental objectives.

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12.9.2022

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28.10.2022

Hakukierroksen ehdot

• This historical application round is closed.

Applications closed in 2022. The intake ran through IDAE’s electronic grants portal; the official call page now provides award-management and justification documents. The terms here describe that historical call.

Applicants submitted one request per installation and provided a participation guarantee equal to 10% of the total grant requested, as a bank or mutual-guarantee-company guarantee through the Caja General de Depósitos. The FAQ identified exemptions for public administrations and their linked or dependent bodies, public-sector companies and foundations, entities legally exempt from providing security, and nonprofits or their groupings carrying out social-action and international-cooperation projects. It also cited the exemption for awards below €3,000, subject to the statutory exceptions. Public bodies followed public procurement rules; other beneficiaries needed at least three supplier offers before contracting the relevant work, supply or service.

Award holders had to complete the installation by 31 October 2025. They could request an extension through the project-amendment procedure before that date, up to 15 December 2025. Justification was due within three months after the granted execution period expired, with an audited account demonstrating costs and completion.

Recipients had to retain original award and expenditure records for five years from the end of the execution period, or three years where financing was no more than €60,000, and provide them for inspection. Failure to provide requested originals could lead to loss or recovery of the grant.