Renewable energy communities and shared electricity grants
Grants for renewable electricity installations shared by homes, central-government buildings and private service-sector buildings in mainland Portugal.
Tämän rahoitusmahdollisuuden kuvaus on toistaiseksi englanniksi.
This support funds a renewable energy community (CER) or collective self-consumption project (ACC): members produce and share electricity for their own use. The second call is closed; the conditions below describe that 2024 call.
It covered new renewable electricity production units (UPAC), with optional batteries connected to the new installation. Existing units, upgrades to them and standalone batteries were excluded. Eligible costs were funded at 70% for private residential buildings, 100% for central public administration buildings, and 50% for private commerce and services buildings, including social-economy activities. The grant was capped at €200,000 per production unit, including storage, and €500,000 per ACC or CER.
Studies/consultancy and intelligent-management software/platforms were eligible when incurred during the first five years of the project. Each category had an eligible-cost ceiling of 5% of eligible investment and €10,000. Structures supporting solar panels, such as carports, were limited to 10% of eligible investment. Costs had to concern new equipment, exclude VAT, be necessary and reasonably priced, and come from suppliers that neither controlled nor were controlled by the buyer. Invoices, payment evidence and delivery or installation were required. Only investment made by eligible beneficiaries qualified; investment made by an ineligible third party, such as an installer covering part of the cost, was excluded. Invoices and receipts had to be in the eligible beneficiary’s name and tax number. Land/buildings, beneficiary staff, software-development staff, EGAC remuneration, maintenance/operation, used goods, temporary relocation, unrelated building works, fees/tariffs, fines/litigation, private electrical lines and network connections were not eligible.
Production units could be on the eligible buildings or nearby under the statutory proximity rules, with production allocated to eligible building uses. Electricity was shared with members; selling it to them required a separately authorised electricity supplier. An investing EGAC could recover investment through member charges recorded in the ACC internal rules or CER statutes, rather than electricity sales.
Eligibility
- Eligible investors were legally constituted CERs, collective self-consumers, or an appointed collective self-consumption manager (EGAC) that also invested and was itself an eligible member. The EGAC or CER submitted the application for the project.
- Projects had to serve existing private homes, eligible central-administration buildings or private commerce/service buildings in mainland Portugal. Central public bodies included the State, central services/funds and nonprofit institutions, public enterprises, regulators and other autonomous public entities carrying out State administrative functions. Public enterprises needed a non-economic public-service mission. Central-administration buildings had to be registered in both Barómetro ECO-AP and SIOE; ECO-AP registration was required by submission. Local/autonomous administration buildings were excluded, including municipal buildings lent to other entities.
- Residential/service projects needed at least four eligible electricity delivery-point codes (CPEs); central-administration projects needed two. Each member had to reduce their annual electricity bill in euros by at least 20%. Except for central-administration buildings, no member could receive more than 60% of the project's electricity sharing. Actual sharing was required; individual self-consumption was excluded. The FAQs also required a residential/service installation hosting a UPAC to consume at most 60% of that unit's output, with sharing calculations using the combined power of all UPACs.
- Members outside the eligible sectors could participate without receiving direct support; their electricity shares reduced eligible funding. Beneficiaries had to own or co-own the participating buildings or units, with a rental exception: rented buildings qualified when the lease and electricity supply contract were in the eligible member’s name. Beneficiaries also had to hold their electricity supply contracts. A business with both eligible and ineligible activities using one delivery point could qualify if most of its turnover came from an eligible sector, supported by accounts showing turnover by activity.
- Electricity surplus could not exceed 20% of annual production, whether sold or not; external sales were also capped at 20%. Calculations used annual self-consumption based on 15-minute production/consumption balances, with detailed simulation where production data were unavailable. Exceeding the surplus limit could require repayment; the FAQs allowed adding members so it would not recur the following year, without funding their invoices.
- Storage, if included, had to be between 120% and 250% of the new generation system's peak power and connected directly to the UPAC before the meter. Installers needed the applicable authorization and valid DGEG registration. Projects had to comply with environmental safeguards, including applicable CE marking, noise limits and authorised waste handling.
- Beneficiaries needed settled tax, social-security and European-fund repayment obligations, legal ability to operate, the technical, financial and staffing resources to deliver, no unpaid wages and organised accounts. Legal entities also needed balanced finances and financing capacity. Condominiums could establish organised accounts by the grant-contract stage.
- The same investment could not have another pending or favourable funding application, except where withdrawn before this notice was published. Operations already approved under Fundo Ambiental calls were excluded even if withdrawn; costs financed by other national or EU programmes were excluded.
- Residential/service legal entities had to demonstrate that they were not an undertaking in difficulty under EU state-aid rules: the lost-capital test applies where accumulated losses eliminate more than half of subscribed capital (or recorded capital for unlimited-liability companies), with an exception for SMEs under three years old. Insolvency proceedings or eligibility for creditor-requested insolvency, outstanding rescue aid or restructuring plans also count. For large companies, the test applies when debt/equity exceeded 7.5 and EBITDA interest coverage was below 1.0 in each of the previous two years. A certified accountant or auditor had to sign the declaration and calculations, with the previous two years' accounts and parent-company information where applicable. Companies with an outstanding EU unlawful-aid recovery order were excluded.
Funded projects had to be implemented by 31 December 2025. Recipients had to cooperate with checks and submit annual financial/project-indicator reports and proof of the operating authorization for each supported production centre during the first five years. Member changes had to stay within the same building sector; adding installations could not undermine funded electricity shares or savings. Breaching the conditions or misusing funding could require repayment.
How to apply
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- Hakukierroksen ehdot
- Second call, now closed; submission deadline was 17:59 mainland Portuguese time.
- Approved projects had to be implemented by 31 December 2025.
The second call is closed. Check Fundo Ambiental's official programme page for further notices; the linked application portal also provides the status of submitted applications.
For that call, the EGAC or CER first submitted the ACC/CER licensing request through DGEG, then prepared a technical description, a five-year financial schedule and itemised budgets. The application required DGEG project-control proof and registration evidence from Balcão dos Fundos and SIGA. Final DGEG acceptance was required before Fundo Ambiental's final opinion, subject to exceptional network-study timing conditions. Submit the form and all supporting documents through the Fundo Ambiental platform; signed documents needed a valid digital signature. Other submission channels were not accepted.
Residential/service beneficiaries had to wait for application approval and the first advance-payment request before starting works. Starting means construction or the first binding equipment order or other irreversible commitment; buying land, permits and feasibility studies do not count. Their eligible expenditure generally had to follow application submission, with earlier permits/feasibility studies excepted. The central-administration route allowed qualifying expenditure from 1 February 2020.
Before signing the grant agreement, recipients chose either an initial advance of up to 20% followed by reimbursement (with the advance offset against reimbursements), or invoice-backed advances followed by reimbursement. Invoice-backed advances covered invoiced costs not yet paid; recipients had to pay them and provide payment evidence within 30 working days after receiving the advance. Payment claims needed implementation and expenditure evidence, applicable procurement compliance, and six-month work-execution reports.