Project Development Assistance for sustainable energy investments

About this call

Expected Impact:

Proposals should present the concrete results which will be delivered by the activities, and demonstrate how these results will contribute to the topic-specific impacts. This demonstration should include a detailed analysis of the starting point and a set of well-substantiated assumptions, and establish clear causality links between the results and the expected impact.

PDA proposals should result in the actual launch of an energy efficiency and/or renewable energy investment programme, as well as the delivery of an innovative organisational approach and/or financing solution for sustainable energy investment projects.

Proposals should demonstrate that every million EUR of EU support will result in at least EUR 15 million of investments in sustainable energy launched during the project duration (or at least EUR 10 million for projects targeting exclusively investments in residential buildings). The evidence in form of signed work or investment contracts, or a similar convincing proof, needs to be clearly identified in the proposal, and must be submitted as part of the deliverables of the project. In case a similar convincing proof is proposed, it should be clearly explained in the specific investment context; a general (contractual) access to finance alone is not considered a sufficiently convincing proof for the actual investment launch. Proposals should also contribute to increased skills and capacity to deliver further sustainable energy investments.

Proposals should quantify their results and impacts using the indicators provided for the topic, when they are relevant for the proposed activities. The results and impacts should be quantified for the end of the project and for 5 years after the end of the project. The quantitative indicators for this topic include:

Investments in sustainable energy (energy efficiency and renewable energy) launched and evidenced by the end of the project

Ratio of sustainable energy investments launched to EU support requested (leverage factor)

Number of staff with increased skills within project organisations

Number of organisations with increased capacity to deliver sustainable energy investments and/or tailored organisational structures

Number of jobs directly and indirectly created.

Proposals should also provide indicators which are specific to their proposed activities.

All proposals submitted under this topic should also quantify their impacts related to the following common indicators for the LIFE Clean Energy Transition sub-programme:

Primary energy savings triggered by the project (in GWh/year)

Final energy savings triggered by the project (in GWh/year)

Renewable energy generation triggered by the project (in GWh/year)

Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (in tCO2-eq/year)

Investments in sustainable energy (energy efficiency and renewable energy) triggered by the project (cumulative, in million Euro)

Funding rate

Other Action Grants (OAGs) — 95%

Objective:

Project Development Assistance (PDA) offers technical assistance to convert sustainable energy project ideas into actual investments. It supports public and private project developers in every step of the way to deliver sustainable energy investments of ambition and scale.

Significant investments in sustainable energy need to be mobilised to achieve the EU’s energy and climate targets, and to support EU competitiveness and energy independence. In order to meet the required level of investments, it is necessary to progressively maximise the mobilisation of private capital, using public funds as a catalyst. PDA projects contribute significantly to the implementation of the Energy Efficiency Directive, Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, Renewable Energy Directive, and the Clean Industrial Deal [1] and Affordable Energy Action Plan [2] , and will help pave the way for a decarbonised and clean energy system. PDA actions significantly contribute to accelerating the clean energy transition, including energy independence, by supporting the phase out of EU fossil fuel imports from Russia in line with the REPowerEU roadmap [3] and the Green Deal Investment Plan [4] , and to EU competitiveness by stimulating market demand for Net-Zero technologies and assisting in their uptake.

Overall, PDA projects are expected to increase the cost-effectiveness of EU and national public budgetary resources by developing ready-to-finance projects, which are, inter alia , bankable and/or mobilise private investments (as appropriate in the specific project context).

A range of innovative solutions with regard to financing and investment mobilisation were developed in PDA projects under LIFE CET and Horizon 2020 which helped to accelerate investment, shift market boundaries, overcome legal and structural barriers, improve organisational structures and demonstrate practical application of inspiring solutions, replicable in other cities and regions throughout the EU. These projects could serve as a reference for further PDA projects.

PDA projects can also aim to implement investment concepts developed under the European City Facility [5] , or under the LIFE CET support to heating and cooling networks and industrial clusters, amongst other.

The EU is facing important increases in energy prices, driven by market volatility and exacerbated by its dependence on imported fossil fuels. A key priority for the EU is to strengthen the resilience of its energy system vis-a-vis geopolitical crises impacting the global energy market. Therefore, applicants under this topic are invited, where possible, to develop and implement long-term structural sustainable and energy efficiency measures to enhance EU energy system resilience against future crises, in coherence with short-term energy relief measures needed to respond to the current shock on the global energy markets.

Scope:

Project Development Assistance (PDA) will support project promoters in preparing and launching investment pipelines of sustainable energy projects, i.e. energy efficiency and/or renewable energy projects. This topic aims to provide and build technical, economic and legal skills and expertise for project developers needed for the successful project development and implementation. Activities can include project bundling, technical studies, energy audits, assessing financing options, legal advice, tendering procedure preparation, outreach and engagement etc.

Proposals for this topic can be submitted by public or private project promoters such as public authorities or their groupings, public/private infrastructure operators and bodies, energy agencies, energy service companies, retail chains, large property owners, services or industry.

PDA projects must lead to the actual launch of sustainable energy investments within the project duration, demonstrating a leverage factor of at least 15 compared to the technical assistance grant (or at least 10 for projects targeting exclusively investments in residential buildings). In this context, proposals need to identify the initially envisaged investment pipeline.