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NRW starter package for climate-neutral SMEs

Small companies can also apply to NRW.BANK for a loan with a repayment subsidy for the short-term conversion from gas to renewable energies and climate-neutral process technologies.

The main aim of the starter package is to enable companies to identify efficiency potential with external support, to plan the transformation and to acquire available and upcoming funding in the best possible way. Companies that already have concepts in the drawer are also given the opportunity to switch to alternative energies and climate-neutral process technologies as quickly as possible with the new NRW.BANK development loan “Away from Gas”.

The starter package at a glance

  • Initial consultation on climate-neutral transformation:
  • Small companies with up to 50 employees receive funding for a compact consultation on how to get started with the climate-neutral transformation. What efficiency potentials can be tapped now? Which alternative energy sources can be used? Is hydrogen an option? Which further measures on the way to climate neutrality are worthwhile and when? Consulting services to answer these questions are funded at 65 percent with a maximum funding amount of 10,000 euros.
  • Transformation concepts for greenhouse gas-neutral production in 2045
  • Medium-sized companies with up to 2,500 employees are usually faced with the challenge of strategically tackling their own greenhouse gas-neutral transformation due to the complexity of their production processes. The state government provides a maximum of 60,000 euros in funding for manufacturing companies to design the company’s future in 2045 in technical and economic terms: Increasing efficiency, process-specific conversion to renewable energy sources and other climate-neutral energy sources, and dealing with remaining CO2 quantities – these and other aspects are to be illuminated technically and economically and prepared in a company-specific roadmap.
  • Promotion of heating concepts:
  • The greatest current challenge is the provision of process heat in manufacturing companies and craft enterprises. In order to find solutions quickly and effectively, the state government is improving the funding conditions for the preparation of heating concepts with external consultants: From now on, the funding is aimed at companies with up to 2,500 employees. Previously, the limit was 500 employees. A maximum of 25,000 euros in funding is available to companies and craft enterprises. The funding rate has been increased from 40 to 50 percent. If an efficient supply or integration of waste heat is also designed, the subsidy amounts to a maximum of 45,000 euros. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) then receive as much as 60 percent of the expenditure as a grant from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
  • Away from gas” subsidy loan:
  • An immediate switch to renewable energies and climate-neutral process technologies not only directly safeguards companies against further supply uncertainties and price shocks in the global competition for increasingly scarce fossil resources, but also gives them long-term competitive advantages in increasingly greener markets. Small and micro enterprises are supported in their immediate switch from natural gas to renewable energies and other climate-neutral energy sources with NRW.BANK’s new loan offer including an attractive repayment subsidy “Away from Gas”. The loan amount of the credit offer, which is designed for a term of 3 to 10 years, is a maximum of two million euros, the repayment subsidy 30 percent, but a maximum of 200,000 euros.
  • Training premium for heat pumps for HVAC companies
  • Specialist companies are required to meet the strong demand for heat pumps. The training premium supports specialist companies in building up the necessary capacities now: A maximum of 500 euros per employee per day will be made available to companies based in NRW whose technical managers or employees responsible for planning take part in further training courses on heat pumps in accordance with VDI 4645 or comparable. The bonus is limited to 1,500 euros per employee.

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Source: www.wirtschaft.nrw