Project Description
Grant for the Development of an Ecological Industry
Recovery and Resilience Plan
With maximum funding of €10 million, this PRR incentive aims to support projects that accelerate and have a clear and evident contribution to improving energy efficiency, decarbonization and the production and storage of renewable energy. This grant is intended for investments in key sectors for the energetic transition and for a carbon-neutral economy, supporting investment in the production of strategic technologies and equipment.
Support Status
Closed
Financing
Up to 10.000.000€
Territory
Mainland Portugal
Madeira
Azores
Eligible Entities
SMEs
Grant for the Development of an Ecological Industry
Recovery and Resilience Plan
With maximum funding of €10 million, this PRR incentive aims to support projects that accelerate and have a clear and evident contribution to improving energy efficiency, decarbonization and the production and storage of renewable energy. This grant is intended for investments in key sectors for the energetic transition and for a carbon-neutral economy, supporting investment in the production of strategic technologies and equipment.
Support Status
Closed
Financing
Up to 10.000.000€
Territory
Mainland Portugal
Madeira
Azores
Eligible Entities
SMEs
Incentive Conditions
- This Notice aims to support projects that accelerate and have a clear and evident contribution to the improvement of energy efficiency, decarbonization, and the production and storage of renewable energies, supporting technological production projects for this purpose.
- Projects that use processes and methodologies with advanced technological maturity, dispensing with additional R&D activities, should be supported, so the support is directed to companies.
- This support is intended for investments in key sectors for the energy transition and a carbon-neutral economy, allowing support for investments in the manufacture of strategic technologies and equipment, in the following types of operations:
- i. Production of equipment relevant to the climate transition, which must be directly linked to photovoltaic solar energy and solar thermal energy, electrolyzers and fuel cells, onshore wind energy and offshore renewable energies, sustainable biogas/biomethane, batteries and storage, carbon capture and storage, heat pumps, energy efficiency, geothermal energy, or grid solutions;
- ii. Production of essential components designed and used primarily as direct inputs for the production of the equipment defined in subparagraph i);
- iii. Production or recovery of critical raw materials needed for the production of the equipment and essential components defined in subparagraphs i) and ii), excluding mining and extraction;
- The beneficiaries of the support provided for in this Notice of competition are Companies, of any size or legal form, that present investment projects within the economic activities related to the types of operations provided for in point 3.
- This Notice applies to the territory of mainland Portugal and the Autonomous Regions of the Azores and Madeira.
- Support is provided in the form of non-repayable incentives.
- The indicative maximum limit of incentive per project is €10,000,000. However, the amount of incentive per project may be higher if duly justified and according to the available allocation and as long as it is possible to meet the target set for the measure of “Completion of at least five industrial technological projects with a technological maturity level equal to or greater than seven, related to strategic technologies for the climate transition.”
- The minimum eligible expenditure limit under this Notice is €2,500,000.
- North, with the exception of Matosinhos, Center, with the exception of the Beira, Serra da Estrela and Médio Tejo regions and Alentejo with the exception of the Alentejo Litoral and Alto Alentejo regions: 30%
- Beira and Serra da Estrela: 40%
- Alentejo Litoral and Alto Alentejo: 40%
- Middle Tejo: 40%
- Matosinhos: 40%
- Azores: 50%
- Madeira: 50%
- Non-defined “c” regions: 15%
- Increases:
- Medium-sized companies 10%
- Small companies 20% (only for projects with eligible costs ≤ 50M€)
- For Large Investment Projects, with eligible costs >50 M€, this limit is subject to an adjustment in accordance with the provisions of point 19 (3) of the Guidelines on national regional aid for the period 2021-2027.
- a) Legally constituted by January 1, 2022;
- b) Possess a legally constituted industrial establishment in any of the NUTS II regions;
- c) Have their tax and social security situation regularized before the tax administration and social security;
- d) Be compliant with activity regulations in the territory covered by the type of operations and investments they are applying for, including compliance with applicable EU and national environmental legislation. Projects requiring industrial and/or environmental domain licensing can only start implementation after indication of eligibility of all covered regimes and respective approval by the coordinating entity, and the necessary licensing must be obtained;
- e) Possess or ensure, by the approval of the application, the technical, physical, financial means, and human resources necessary for the operation’s development;
- f) Demonstrate the ability to finance the operation;
- g) Have their situation regularized concerning reimbursements within the scope of European Funds financing;
- h) Have organized accounting as per applicable legislation;
- i) Declare and prove that they are not a “Company in difficulty”;
- j) Declare that they are not a company subject to a recovery injunction, still pending, following a previous European Commission decision declaring illegal and incompatible aid with the internal market;
- k) Not hold nor have held more than 50% capital, by themselves or their spouse, not separated from persons and assets, or their ascendants and descendants up to the 1st degree, as well as by those living with them under conditions analogous to those of spouses, in a company that has not complied with a notification to return support within the scope of an operation supported by European funds;
- l) Not have submitted the same investments in an application, in which the decision process is still ongoing or in which the financing request decision was favorable, except in situations where withdrawal was presented;
- m) The beneficiary must commit to maintaining the investments in the area concerned for at least five years, or three years for SMEs, after the investment’s completion;
- n) Declare that they have not relocated to the establishment where the investment subject to aid is to be carried out in the two years preceding the application.
- a) Respect the types of projects provided for in point 3 of this Notice;
- b) Demonstrate that the operation results in processes or products with advanced technological maturity, determining a minimum technological maturity level of TRL 7;
- c) Include indicators, as per Annex II, to assess the operation’s contribution to the respective objectives and monitor the operation’s execution level and the achievement of the expected results;
- d) Ensure compliance with the “Do No Significant Harm” (DNSH) principle;
- f) The works related to the project or activity to be developed within the operation must start only after the application submission;
- g) For Non-SMEs, in addition to what is provided in f), there is an incentive effect when a project is carried out that would not have been carried out in the area concerned or would not have been sufficiently advantageous for the beneficiary in the area concerned without the aid, or one of the following situations: a substantial increase in the project’s/activity’s scope, due to the aid, or a substantial increase in the total amount spent by the beneficiary on the project/activity, due to the aid, or a substantial increase in the project’s/activity’s completion speed;
- h) For proof of SME status, companies must obtain or update the corresponding Electronic Certification provided for in Decree-Law No. 372/2007;
- i) Submit a descriptive report of the operation, including the technical characterization and justification of investment costs and the physical and financial completion schedule;
- k) Projects must be completed by 30/06/2026.
- 1 — The following expenses are eligible, as long as they are directly related to the project’s development and necessary for the production or recovery of the goods listed in point 3:
- a) Tangible assets consisting of:
- i. Construction of buildings or facilities;
- ii. Adaptation works;
- iii. Costs of purchasing machines and equipment, directly attributable costs for installing and necessary conditions for their operation;
- iv. Computer equipment, including software necessary for its operation.
- b) Intangible assets consisting of:
- i. Acquisition of patent rights;
- ii. Licenses, “know-how,” or specialized knowledge not protected by patents;
- iii. Acquisition of national or international standards;
- iv. Expenses for the intervention of certified accountants or official auditors in the validation of expenditure on payment requests.
- a) Tangible assets consisting of:
- 2 — The expenses referred to in the previous number are eligible if they cumulatively meet the following conditions:
- a) Intangible assets must:
- i. Remain associated with the area concerned and cannot be transferred to other areas;
- ii. Be used mainly in the production installation benefiting from the aid;
- iii. Be amortizable;
- iv. Be acquired under market conditions from third parties not related to the acquirer;
- v. Be included in the assets of the aid beneficiary company;
- vi. Remain associated with the project for which the aid is granted for at least five years or three years in the case of SMEs;
- b) Demonstrate that the acquisitions were made under market conditions and from suppliers capable of the purpose.
- a) Intangible assets must:
- Ineligible expenses include:
- a) Normal operating costs of the beneficiary, not provided for in the contracted Investment, as well as maintenance and replacement costs and costs related to periodic or continuous activities;
- b) Cash payments, except in situations where this is the most frequent means of payment, depending on the nature of the expenses, and provided that the unit amount is less than €250;
- c) Expenses paid under contracts made through intermediaries or consultants, where the amount to be paid is expressed as a percentage of the amount funded by the PRR or the eligible expenses of the operation;
- d) Acquisition of used goods;
- e) Recoverable or non-recoverable Value Added Tax (VAT);
- f) Acquisition of motor vehicles, aircraft, and other transport material;
- g) Interest and financial charges;
- h) Working capital;
- i) Current advertising;
- j) Investments related to the acquisition and installation of fossil fuel-consuming equipment;
- k) Travel and shipping costs;
- l) Costs with capacitor banks or any system aimed solely at mitigating reactive energy;
- m) Expenses associated with registrations, authorizations, licenses, and fees;
- n) Purchase of real estate, including land;
- o) Transfer and usage rights of spaces.
Incentive Conditions
This Notice aims to support projects that accelerate and have a clear and evident contribution to the improvement of energy efficiency, decarbonization, and the production and storage of renewable energies, supporting technological production projects for this purpose.
Projects that use processes and methodologies with advanced technological maturity, dispensing with additional R&D activities, should be supported, so the support is directed to companies.
This support is intended for investments in key sectors for the energy transition and a carbon-neutral economy, allowing support for investments in the manufacture of strategic technologies and equipment, in the following types of operations:
i. Production of equipment relevant to the climate transition, which must be directly linked to photovoltaic solar energy and solar thermal energy, electrolyzers and fuel cells, onshore wind energy and offshore renewable energies, sustainable biogas/biomethane, batteries and storage, carbon capture and storage, heat pumps, energy efficiency, geothermal energy, or grid solutions;
ii. Production of essential components designed and used primarily as direct inputs for the production of the equipment defined in subparagraph i);
iii. Production or recovery of critical raw materials needed for the production of the equipment and essential components defined in subparagraphs i) and ii), excluding mining and extraction;
The beneficiaries of the support provided for in this Notice of competition are Companies, of any size or legal form, that present investment projects within the economic activities related to the types of operations provided for in point 3.
This Notice applies to the territory of mainland Portugal and the Autonomous Regions of the Azores and Madeira.
Support is provided in the form of non-repayable incentives.
The indicative maximum limit of incentive per project is €10,000,000. However, the amount of incentive per project may be higher if duly justified and according to the available allocation and as long as it is possible to meet the target set for the measure of “Completion of at least five industrial technological projects with a technological maturity level equal to or greater than seven, related to strategic technologies for the climate transition.”
The minimum eligible expenditure limit under this Notice is €2,500,000.
North, with the exception of Matosinhos, Center, with the exception of the Beira, Serra da Estrela and Médio Tejo regions and Alentejo with the exception of the Alentejo Litoral and Alto Alentejo regions: 30%
Beira and Serra da Estrela: 40%
Alentejo Litoral and Alto Alentejo: 40%
Middle Tejo: 40%
Matosinhos: 40%
Azores: 50%
Madeira: 50%
Non-defined “c” regions: 15%
Increases:
Medium-sized companies 10%
Small companies 20% (only for projects with eligible costs ≤ 50M€)
For Large Investment Projects, with eligible costs >50 M€, this limit is subject to an adjustment in accordance with the provisions of point 19 (3) of the Guidelines on national regional aid for the period 2021-2027.
a) Legally constituted by January 1, 2022;
b) Possess a legally constituted industrial establishment in any of the NUTS II regions;
c) Have their tax and social security situation regularized before the tax administration and social security;
d) Be compliant with activity regulations in the territory covered by the type of operations and investments they are applying for, including compliance with applicable EU and national environmental legislation. Projects requiring industrial and/or environmental domain licensing can only start implementation after indication of eligibility of all covered regimes and respective approval by the coordinating entity, and the necessary licensing must be obtained;
e) Possess or ensure, by the approval of the application, the technical, physical, financial means, and human resources necessary for the operation’s development;
f) Demonstrate the ability to finance the operation;
g) Have their situation regularized concerning reimbursements within the scope of European Funds financing;
h) Have organized accounting as per applicable legislation;
i) Declare and prove that they are not a “Company in difficulty”;
j) Declare that they are not a company subject to a recovery injunction, still pending, following a previous European Commission decision declaring illegal and incompatible aid with the internal market;
k) Not hold nor have held more than 50% capital, by themselves or their spouse, not separated from persons and assets, or their ascendants and descendants up to the 1st degree, as well as by those living with them under conditions analogous to those of spouses, in a company that has not complied with a notification to return support within the scope of an operation supported by European funds;
l) Not have submitted the same investments in an application, in which the decision process is still ongoing or in which the financing request decision was favorable, except in situations where withdrawal was presented;
m) The beneficiary must commit to maintaining the investments in the area concerned for at least five years, or three years for SMEs, after the investment’s completion;
n) Declare that they have not relocated to the establishment where the investment subject to aid is to be carried out in the two years preceding the application.
a) Respect the types of projects provided for in point 3 of this Notice;
b) Demonstrate that the operation results in processes or products with advanced technological maturity, determining a minimum technological maturity level of TRL 7;
c) Include indicators, as per Annex II, to assess the operation’s contribution to the respective objectives and monitor the operation’s execution level and the achievement of the expected results;
d) Ensure compliance with the “Do No Significant Harm” (DNSH) principle;
f) The works related to the project or activity to be developed within the operation must start only after the application submission;
g) For Non-SMEs, in addition to what is provided in f), there is an incentive effect when a project is carried out that would not have been carried out in the area concerned or would not have been sufficiently advantageous for the beneficiary in the area concerned without the aid, or one of the following situations: a substantial increase in the project’s/activity’s scope, due to the aid, or a substantial increase in the total amount spent by the beneficiary on the project/activity, due to the aid, or a substantial increase in the project’s/activity’s completion speed;
h) For proof of SME status, companies must obtain or update the corresponding Electronic Certification provided for in Decree-Law No. 372/2007;
i) Submit a descriptive report of the operation, including the technical characterization and justification of investment costs and the physical and financial completion schedule;
k) Projects must be completed by 30/06/2026.
1 — The following expenses are eligible, as long as they are directly related to the project’s development and necessary for the production or recovery of the goods listed in point 3:
a) Tangible assets consisting of:
i. Construction of buildings or facilities;
ii. Adaptation works;
iii. Costs of purchasing machines and equipment, directly attributable costs for installing and necessary conditions for their operation;
iv. Computer equipment, including software necessary for its operation.
b) Intangible assets consisting of:
i. Acquisition of patent rights;
ii. Licenses, “know-how,” or specialized knowledge not protected by patents;
iii. Acquisition of national or international standards;
iv. Expenses for the intervention of certified accountants or official auditors in the validation of expenditure on payment requests.
2 — The expenses referred to in the previous number are eligible if they cumulatively meet the following conditions:
a) Intangible assets must:
i. Remain associated with the area concerned and cannot be transferred to other areas;
ii. Be used mainly in the production installation benefiting from the aid;
iii. Be amortizable;
iv. Be acquired under market conditions from third parties not related to the acquirer;
v. Be included in the assets of the aid beneficiary company;
vi. Remain associated with the project for which the aid is granted for at least five years or three years in the case of SMEs;
b) Demonstrate that the acquisitions were made under market conditions and from suppliers capable of the purpose.
Ineligible expenses include:
a) Normal operating costs of the beneficiary, not provided for in the contracted Investment, as well as maintenance and replacement costs and costs related to periodic or continuous activities;
b) Cash payments, except in situations where this is the most frequent means of payment, depending on the nature of the expenses, and provided that the unit amount is less than €250;
c) Expenses paid under contracts made through intermediaries or consultants, where the amount to be paid is expressed as a percentage of the amount funded by the PRR or the eligible expenses of the operation;
d) Acquisition of used goods;
e) Recoverable or non-recoverable Value Added Tax (VAT);
f) Acquisition of motor vehicles, aircraft, and other transport material;
g) Interest and financial charges;
h) Working capital;
i) Current advertising;
j) Investments related to the acquisition and installation of fossil fuel-consuming equipment;
k) Travel and shipping costs;
l) Costs with capacitor banks or any system aimed solely at mitigating reactive energy;
m) Expenses associated with registrations, authorizations, licenses, and fees;
n) Purchase of real estate, including land;
o) Transfer and usage rights of spaces.
