Energy and resource efficiency investment grant

Private companies, municipal companies, companies owned by German federal states, freelancers using the business premises predominantly for their work, and energy-service companies that finance and operate equipment for eligible clients (contractors) can apply. You need a business establishment or branch in Germany. Municipalities and their direct administrative enterprises, companies more than 50% owned by the federal government (apart from temporary stabilisation holdings), and applicants subject to the stated EU state-aid exclusions cannot apply. These include fishery/aquaculture activities, unfulfilled EU aid-recovery orders and businesses in difficulty under EU state-aid rules, including applicants facing insolvency proceedings or required formal disclosure of their assets. Separated eligible activities of mixed businesses can qualify; the handbook also preserves an exception for businesses that were not in difficulty on 31 December 2019 but became so in 2020–2021.

• Investments must be installed in Germany and used for industrial or commercial purposes on the recipient's business premises for at least three years. Normally one application covers one site; module 3 is an exception. Small and medium company status follows the EU SME definition.
• For module 1 and module 4 basic replacements, the existing equipment must be owned by the applicant, fully functional and used by them for at least five years. Module 1 also allows specified heat-recovery, insulation and variable-speed-drive upgrades to such existing equipment. Replacement equipment must serve the same purpose as the old equipment. Basic module 4 needs at least 15% less energy used each year; an expert listed for industrial equipment/process energy audits on the federal energy-efficiency register must certify this using the official basic-support form. Replaced equipment must not continue operating in the recipient or a connected company.
• Module 2 normally requires more than 50% of the generated energy to be used as process heat; geothermal installations have specific exceptions. Heat pumps use renewable electricity and eligible renewable heat sources. Biomass plants have a site-wide firing-capacity ceiling strictly below 7.5 MW and restrictions on permitted plant waste and residues; plants below 700 kW may use up to 25% primary biomass on an annual-average basis. Check the binding technology appendix for your installation.
• Module 3 hardware must feed into BAFA-listed energy-management software. Keep the recorded energy indicators for at least three years after commissioning.
• Module 4 premium projects must save at least 30% of annual greenhouse-gas emissions, or at least 100, 300 or 1,000 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent a year for small, medium or large companies. Submit a savings report (Einsparkonzept) using the official form: it describes the proposed measures and calculates their energy, resource and emissions savings. It normally needs an expert listed for industrial equipment/process energy audits; in-house preparation is allowed with an appropriately listed employee or a certified energy or environmental management system under ISO 50001 or EMAS at the project site. In-house preparation costs are not funded. Where emissions savings are calculated against equipment being replaced, that equipment must still work when you apply and cannot continue operating in your business or a connected company. Without support, investment payback must exceed three years, calculated from eligible investment costs and annual energy/resource savings, including additional revenues. Module 1 and basic-module-4 technology categories normally cannot receive premium support, even for large companies; exceptions cover nonessential components within a broader project and heat exchangers.
• Module 6 replacements require existing equipment owned by the applicant, still fully functional and used by them for at least five years. Replacement equipment must serve the same purpose as the old equipment, which cannot continue operating in your business or a connected company. The new or converted equipment must run exclusively on electricity; direct renewable heat, sunlight and waste heat are permitted exceptions, while fossil-fuel hybrids are excluded. Highest available energy-label efficiency classes apply where relevant. Building heating and ventilation are excluded.

Contractors need an eligible client and a contract covering at least three years of operation. The client must waive a separate claim for the project, and both parties must supply the required declarations on funding disclosure and audit access. The contractor may receive the SME rate even if the client is not an SME.

The programme excludes legally mandatory measures, research and development, leasing and similar financing, used equipment, running costs, dismantling costs and the applicant's own work or products, including work supplied by partner or connected companies or insufficiently independent suppliers. Agricultural production is excluded except for eligible module 2 measures. The equipment must predominantly serve commercial/industrial processes; building measures are excluded except recognised installation-related ancillary work. Purchases of fossil-fuel equipment and plants using liquid biofuels are excluded. Refrigerants generally must have a global-warming potential no greater than 150, with the stated module-2-compliant heat-pump exception; applications from 2027 require exclusively natural refrigerants in heat pumps. Technical thresholds and further exclusions in each module's appendix remain binding.

Do not request or use other federal, state or local public aid for the same measures, including EEG or KWKG payments, or apply for the same measures through BAFA, KfW and the EEW competition. Separately funded energy advice may be used, but those advice costs cannot also be claimed here. The named electricity-price and carbon-leakage relief schemes do not themselves disqualify an applicant.

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• Awards depend on federal budget availability.[^c31]

Choose the relevant module on BAFA's EEW website and apply electronically through Förderzentrale Deutschland, using an ELSTER certificate or bundID. Base the costs on a supplier offer and show planning and installation separately. Attach the module-specific technical documents; premium module 4 also needs the completed savings concept.

Wait for the grant award before starting implementation or disposing of replacement equipment. A binding delivery or service contract normally counts as starting. Planning may be commissioned earlier, but payments before the award are ineligible. After submitting the application, delivery/service contracts may be signed only with the specified written condition that they take effect on an award or become void on final refusal; no delivery or work may start yet, and a simple right to withdraw does not suffice.

Complete the project within the award period: normally 36 months from award issuance, 48 months for deep geothermal projects or projects receiving a decarbonisation bonus, and 24 months for geothermal feasibility studies. Submit the report proving that the equipment was installed as approved and documenting the costs (Verwendungsnachweis) within three months after that period ends. Eligible payments must be made within the award period or at most 12 weeks after it ends, and before you submit that report. BAFA pays after checking it. If you sell replaced equipment in modules 1, 4 or 6, the sale proceeds reduce eligible costs. Operate the funded investment as approved for at least three years; early sale or closure triggers recovery, except a transfer with a business sale where the obligations and continued eligible operation are preserved.