Call for proposals for the EU Renewable Energy Financing Mechanism

Based on the binding commitments from the host and contributing countries, the European Commission launches a call or several calls for proposals. The tendered good is defined in terms of capacity (MW) or production (MWh) and the tender volume is defined in terms of budget (€). Depending on the specific call design, it may be technology specific or multi-technology. The call documents include these and other specifications of the tender.

A typical call of the EU Renewable Energy Financing Mechanism is price-based, targeted at capacity and follows the pay-as-bid principle, where the awarding criteria is focused on the lowest submitted bids.

Therefore, if all conditions specified in the call text are respected, applications are selected starting from the lowest to the highest price.

The eligibility requirements include that the projects is located on the territory of a host country that participates in the specific call.

Any legal entity interested in developing the project based on the specifications set out in the call document may be eligible. Check out the upcoming and open calls for proposals below.

Schedule

Below you can find the schedule for the upcoming call:

First call for proposals

The first call for proposals based on 2022 commitments opened on 18 April 2023 and will close on 27 September 2023. Applications have to be submitted via the call page in the Funding and Tender Portal.

For this first call, Luxembourg participates as a contributing country, voluntarily contributing EUR 40 million to the mechanism. Finland is the hosting country.

The call supports new solar PV projects located in Finland with a minimum capacity of 5 MW and a maximum of 100 MW. The total capacity of the call is 400 MW.

These are the main call elements:

• Eligible are all legal entities which apply for a support to a solar PV project located in Finland, excluding the Åland Province;
• Projects must enter into operation within 24 months after grant signature and operate at least 15 years after entry into operation;
• Price offers which exceed 180.000 EUR/MW are not eligible;
• Project must have a minimum capacity size of 5MW and maximum of 100MW.
• At project level, removal of forest is restricted to maximum 25 % of the area needed for installation of solar panels.
• During the support period (15 years), the project must generate at least 850 Full Load Hours per year, based on the defined installed capacity of the project proposal.
• Applicants must show operational capacity through description of the qualifications and experiences of the staff responsible for managing and implementing the project; activity reports of last year; list of previous RES projects (at least three generation plants from any renewable sources developed and operated in the last 10 years with a cumulative capacity of 10 MW or more), and a list of previous solar PV projects (at least one plant developed and operated in the last 5 years with a capacity of 1 MW or more), supported by commissioning certificates or any other similar document.
• Applicants must show also financial capacity through profit and loss account and balance sheet, business plan of the project (including at least market analysis, operations / implementation plan and financial plan), business plan financial spreadsheet (financial model).
• Applicants must also provide evidence for the maturity of the project through a construction permit; access rights to the land (ownership or use rights); a launched application to the grid connection (whereby the payment for a binding reservation of grid capacity may be done after award of the grant).

The eligible applications will be ranked according to the lowest price offer per MW.

In case of equal price, projects located in the following areas will be ranked first:

• the regions of: Kainuu, South Karelia, North Karelia, South Savo, North Savo and Kymenlaakso;
• the municipalities in the region of Lapland: Savukoski, Pelkosenniemi, Salla, Kemijärvi and Posio;
• the municipalities in the region of North Ostrobothnia: Pudasjärvi, Taivalkoski and Kuusamo.

You are invited to check the recording and the presentations of the call Info Day to obtain more information about the call conditions, priority order of the tender and award criteria, as well as rules for grant disbursements.

For any queries, you can email CINEA directly at: CINEA-RENEWFM@ec.europa.eu

Upon the call closure, the European Commission will evaluate the proposals and award the grant to the application(s) that best meet the criteria. Applications are assessed against eligibility and selection criteria. These criteria focus on the applicant itself.

Secondly, applications are assessed against the award criteria. These criteria focus on the proposed application and typically focus on the alignment of the proposals with the call objectives; its quality and maturity. If the quality of the proposal is sufficiently demonstrated, the project will be ranked based on the price offered. The eligibility, selection and award criteria are always specified in the call text.

Following the Commission decision on the grants award, applicants will be in touch with CINEA in order to prepare and finalise the Grant Agreement.

More in details, the grant award procedure is described in articles 15-23 of the RENEWFM Regulation