Heating grant for non-residential buildings (522)
A grant currently covering 30% of eligible heating-upgrade costs for businesses and other investors in existing non-residential buildings in Germany.
Esta oportunidade está atualmente disponível em inglês.
Replace or upgrade heating in a building used for purposes other than housing, or connect it to a building or district heat network. Eligible equipment includes qualifying electric heat pumps, solar heating and biomass heating. This is support for individual heating improvements, not a requirement to renovate the whole building.
KfW pays the grant after completion and successful checks. It is not a loan: you finance the costs the grant does not cover. You must use the heating for its intended purpose for ten years and report changes to KfW; loss of the funded purpose can lead to recovery of support.
The minimum investment is €300 including VAT. VAT counts towards eligible costs only if you cannot deduct it. The 30% rate applies to accepted costs within a building-size ceiling, not automatically to your entire bill. For buildings up to 150 m² net floor area, the current eligible-cost ceiling is €28,000. Larger buildings have area-based ceilings. If the work serves only part of the building, the ceiling is reduced proportionately; costs already supported through earlier applications reduce what remains. The ceiling applicable on your application date starts falling on 1 February 2027, then every six months. Funding depends on available public funds and is not an entitlement.
From the first quarter of 2027, the directive reduces the heat-pump base grant rate to 15%. A bonus of 15 percentage points applies if the funded heat pump has EU origin, bringing the rate to 30% for that equipment. This is a forthcoming change, not the current rate.
Eligibility
- Companies, sole traders, freelancers, nonprofits, churches, associations, public-law bodies and private-law entities can qualify. Private individuals must own the building; private tenants cannot apply for this heating grant. Other investors who do not own it need an eligible owner, informed before application of the grant and maximum support, who confirms the owner's obligations.
- Municipal authorities and municipal associations use product 422 instead. Federal and state governments and their institutions, federal-majority companies and political parties are excluded. State-majority companies or institutions can qualify only when the funded measure serves municipal tasks. You cannot apply if insolvency proceedings concerning your assets have been requested or opened. You are also excluded if you have made, or are required to make, a sworn declaration under section 807 of Germany's Code of Civil Procedure, or an asset disclosure under section 802c of that Code or section 284 of the Fiscal Code. These are the specified debt-enforcement disclosures, not routine financial information supplied with an application.
- The building must be in Germany. Its building application or notification must date back at least five years. After the work, it must fall within Germany's Building Energy Act (GEG). Mixed-use buildings qualify when more than 50% of their heated or cooled net floor area is non-residential; residential parts can then be included.
- The work must improve energy efficiency or the renewable-energy share. Optimise the entire heat-distribution system, including hydraulic balancing—adjusting water flow so radiators receive the heat they need—or airflow adjustment for air-based systems. Equipment must meet the technical requirements and applicable BAFA approved-equipment lists. For new or retrofitted biomass, heat-pump, fuel-cell, hydrogen-ready or innovative space heating, the served area must obtain at least 65% of its heating from renewable energy afterwards.
- For a heat pump, have your specialist check and confirm in the gBzA which alternative the proposed model meets: an efficient heat source or a natural refrigerant. Separately, its digital interface must enable control in response to electricity-grid needs and connection to a smart-meter system. After commissioning, request a smart-meter system with control equipment from a metering operator if the building connection does not already have one.
- Self-built equipment, prototypes operated in fewer than four examples, used equipment and systems with substantial used components are excluded. Where a publicly communicated municipal decision requires the plot to connect to a heat network, only that connection is supported, not an individual heating system. Radiant-heating systems are not yet available under this offer.
- From the first quarter of 2027, new heating or a new network connection is excluded if the building already has a building or district heat-network connection, or is supplied by solar, biomass, heat-pump, fuel-cell, hydrogen-ready, innovative renewable or radiant heating commissioned on or after 1 January 2008. An exception preserves support for replacing the gas-, oil- or coal-fired generator in a system using two heating sources. When replacing one of those listed heating types commissioned before 1 January 2008, only 25% of the total costs will be recognised as eligible; that is a cost limit, not a 25% grant rate.
- Other public support can be combined only within the 60% limit on the supported investment costs. Do not claim the same costs from both KfW and BAFA, or combine the same measure with tax relief under sections 35a or 35c EStG. Combining this individual-measure grant with the BEG WG/NWG whole-building programmes is excluded; you must wait three years after completing the previously funded project before applying through the other route, in either direction.
How to apply
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- Have a specialist installation company or an energy-efficiency expert listed for BEG non-residential buildings prepare the gBzA: confirmation of your proposed heating, eligible costs and compliance with technical requirements.
- Before applying, sign a supply or service contract with a condition making it dependent on KfW's funding approval and an expected implementation date. The condition must be included from the outset, not added retrospectively. A contract without it, or starting work before applying, rules out funding.
- Apply through Meine KfW, selecting product 522, with the gBzA reference and contract. The same authorised person must register the company and submit its application. Private individuals register as individuals and provide the required informal declaration during the evidence process.
- After approval, carry out the work and finish within 36 months. Your expert or specialist then prepares the gBnD, confirming the completed work and eligible costs. Request payment in Meine KfW and submit that confirmation, invoices and the required identity and representation evidence within six months of the final invoice. Invoices must be in German and euros and paid without cash. Keep technical records, invoices and payment evidence for ten years from approval.