The law on energy community could be adopted in two days, Investment and European Projects Minister Dragos Pislaru announced on Tuesday, adding that the aim is to encourage municipalities to apply for project together with grids of private consumers.
„I am not 100% sure, but there is a 90% chance that in two days, meaning on Thursday, to pass the Law on energy communities. We are heading in the right direction. I believe that this has been awaited for some years. And today, I had a discussion about energy communities. Currently, we see this measure divided in two, first for private households and then, for local authorities. We have this opportunity due to the reprogramming of the cohesion funds midway exercise, we have the possibility of redirecting funds toward households. It hasn’t been decided yet, but we are discussing it, it is not my decision, it is the decision of a monitoring committee. We have the opportunity to create a priority for households, we are receiving an additional pre-funding and an extension of the implementation deadline. We have more space to complete the investments, especially the difficult ones. We do not want to touch the money for energy efficiency. We intend to spend a part of the 500 million euros in order to use it for energy efficiency and renovation so that we have a combination between energy communities and energy efficiency. From consultations with the banks, it seems achievable, thus, we are not redirecting money from energy communities to others, but creating a combined solution between energy efficiency and projects regarding energy communities,” Minister Pislaru pointed out at the debate called „Funding opportunities from European funds” organized by AHK Romania.
He was asked about the legal framework regarding energy communities.
Furthermore, the minister underscored that the aim is to encourage municipalities „to apply, together with grids of private consumers.” „We will give them additional points if the city halls, together with these grids, apply for projects, because they have the administrative capacity,” the minister added. AGERPRES
