The Romanian government has allocated 2.2 billion euros for the building energy renovation under the country's National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) submitted to the European Commission in early June, according to a press statement from the Energy Policy Group (EPG) released on Monday.

The funds, which must be spent by 2026, are a great opportunity to have buildings that are more energy-efficient, healthier and more resilient to climate change. However, for their optimal spending, there is an urgent need for a plan for the allocation of funds, for the correction of legislative problems, for the training of the workforce for adaptation to the new mandatory NZEB (nearly zero energy buildings) of almost zero energy consumption, as well as for unprecedented organistional and institutional collaboration.

These are some of the ideas debated at the RCEPB 2021 International conference called "NZEB and the Wave of Renovations - Technology, Business and Public Policy," an event co-organised by the Energy Policy Group (EPG) under the auspices of the Efficient Romania project, the largest nationwide private energy efficiency project carried out by EPG and sponsored by OMV Petrom.

Romania's National Recovery and Resilience Plan, a document prepared by the government, still under expert analysis in Brussels, says that under the "Renovation Wave Fund" component (Pillar I Green Transition, Component I.5), at the end of the implementation of reforms and investment there should be: about 1,000 - 1,500 weatherised blocks of flats (4 million sq.m. of residential buildings) and about 2,000 public buildings (2.5 million sq.m) weatherised.

The total budget for the Renewal Wave is 2.2 billion euros, in grants and loans. According to data published by the Ministry of European Investment and Projects, the rule established by the proposed regulation is that 70% of grants be committed by the end of 2022, with the deadline for accessing the remaining 30% of grants being set at December 31, 2023. In addition, payments for projects that will be included in the national recovery and resilience programmes must be done by December 2026.

As Efficient Romania has previously explained, according to the European provisions transposed into national law in Romania as in all other member states of the European Union, since the beginning of this year all new buildings, and also those that have undergone major renovations must comply with the NZEB standard, meaning an energy consumption almost equal to zero, secured largely from renewable energy sources and also from improved energy efficiency.

Efficient Romania is a private project, of national public interest, carried out by the Energy Policy Group (EPG), in partnership and with funds from OMV Petrom.

The project started in the summer of 2019 and consists in running a national programme through 2022 promoting energy efficiency. AGERPRES (RO- author: Florentina Cernat, editor: Oana Tilica; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Cristina Zaharia)