Ministerial Order 160/2024/1 was published on 7 June to establish the Regulation of the Incentive System "Support for the Development of an Ecological Industry" ("Regulation").
The aim of the programme is to support industrial investments in the production of strategic technologies for climate change. It focuses on renewable energy, diversification of energy sources, energy efficiency and decarbonisation, in line with the objectives of the National Energy and Climate Plan 2030, the European Green Deal Industrial Plan and the RePowerEU plan.
In order to achieve this objective, financial support will be provided to projects aimed at increasing the productive capacity of companies in the production of technologies directly linked to the promotion of renewable energy sources, energy efficiency and diversification and decarbonisation.
Eligible projects will be developed by organisations in all sectors and in all regions of Portugal, including the Autonomous Regions of Madeira and the Azores. Beneficiary organisations must allocate projects to establishments located in one of the NUTS II regions (NUTS: Nomenclature of territorial units for statistical purposes).
Investment projects submitted under the incentive scheme must relate to the following activities:
- Production of climate change relevant equipment related to photovoltaic solar energy, solar thermal energy, electrolysers and fuel cells, onshore wind and offshore renewable energy, sustainable biogas/biomethane, batteries and storage, carbon capture and storage, heat pumps, energy efficiency, geothermal energy or grid solutions;
- The production of essential components designed and used primarily as raw materials for the production of the above equipment and the production or recovery of related critical raw materials necessary for the production of the equipment and essential components for the covered equipment.
Support will be provided in the form of a non-repayable grant in accordance with the applicable maximum co-financing rates.
Applications will be assessed on the basis of the following criteria
- Relevance of the project to the objectives of the measure;
- Implementation capacity and future viability;
- Impact of the project.
The calculation benchmark will be defined in the calls for tenders to be launched by 31 December 2024, which will include the result indicators to be achieved by the project.
Ministerial Order 160/2024/1 entered into force on 8 June.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.