Programme Category
Programme Name
Programme Description
The Single Market Programme (SMP) covers the single market, competitiveness of enterprises, including small and medium-sized enterprises, the area of plants, animals, food and feed, and European statistics. Specifically, the programme brings together aspects in order to streamline, exploit synergies and provide a better flexible, transparent, simplified and agile framework to finance activities aiming at a well-functioning sustainable internal market.
Identifier Code
Call
Summary
This call for proposals aims to support the creation of local/regional renewable energy communities (RECs) across the EU integrating local Agri food and Retail SMEs.
The creation of these RECs will contribute to reducing and stabilising the energy costs of their SME members. Support will be given by providing advisory and consulting services that facilitate the creation of RECs but may not be available to SMEs in the agri-food and retail sectors. This could be due to insufficient regional consulting / advisory capacity, or because of inaccessible prices for small companies.
To achieve these objectives, consortia selected through this call for proposals shall themselves organise one or more calls for expressions of interest for third party support. These calls shall offer legal and technical advisory and consulting services in order to support projects aimed at establishing RECs with agri-food and retail SMEs.
Detailed Call Description
This action will support the establishment of Renewable Energy Communities by groups of agrifood and retail SMEs, to reduce their exposure to energy costs.
This call for proposals covers the following themes:
- Increasing the use of renewable energy sources
- Reducing the exposure of agri-food and retail SMEs to high energy costs
- Reducing emissions in the agri-food and retail sectors
- Supporting the establishment of renewable energy communities including agri-food and retail SMEs
Projects funded under this call will be expected to:
- Launch calls for expressions of interest for third party support
- Contact relevant agri-food and/or retail SMEs in order to raise awareness of the opportunities under this action
- Provide expertise and advisory services on renewable energy to local agri-food and retail SMEs interested in applying for third party support
- Provide advice on how to set up a renewable energy community in terms of legal, technical and practical requirements, including financial and business aspects and engage with municipalities / local authorities / regional authorities in order to establish cooperation to provide the local support required by REC projects.
- Monitor and demonstrate the overall impact of the individual projects
The proposal must address all the activities listed below:
Activity 1: Supporting the establishment of RECs through calls for expressions of interest for third party support:
Projects funded under the present call for proposals shall organise one or more calls targeting SMEs in the retail and agri-food sectors who are interested in establishing local renewable energy communities (the so-called ‘REC projects’).
The projects should also involve local partners who can offer support, such as business, networking or technical assistance, and clearly outline the specific support needed for local implementation. Τo the retail and agri-food SMEs (as defined in the EU definition of SMEs), the members of the REC projects could include:
- Small businesses (as defined in the EU definition of SMEs) in other sectors may also be part of the REC project, even if there is no obligation to extend the REC into other sectors than food and drink or retail.
- Complementary larger companies with a significant energy production or storage capacity in the same area (although they should not be the primary beneficiaries of the technical support, as they typically have better technical capabilities).
- Local authorities, including municipalities
- Associations or cooperatives operating at local level
Activity 2: Providing technical assistance and financial support to the selected beneficiaries of REC projects
The consortium applying to the present call for proposals will provide business and technical assistance to the REC projects selected through its call(s) for REC projects.
The proposal to the present call will explain in detail how the consortium intends to provide each type of business or technical support: either centrally, directly by the members of the consortium, or through third parties, coordinated by members of the consortium. These third parties could include members or branches of consortium members, affiliated organisations, or independent third parties. The providers of the business or technical assistance must have demonstrated the necessary knowledge, expertise and experience to provide the technical assistance in question.
The total combined value of vouchers and/or services provided to a REC project selected under a project implementing this call shall not exceed €60.000 (in total for all members of a REC project).
Activity 3: Communicating and disseminating results and best practices
The project proposal under the present call for proposals must outline the consortium’s communication strategy that will be used for the call(s) for REC projects described in Activity 1 with the aim of reaching as many SMEs as possible. The call(s) for REC projects must in any case be publicised to all agri-food and retail business organisations within the geographical areas that the consortium has committed to cover in its project proposal.
The consortium must perform extensive communication activities aimed at agri-food and retail SMEs in this geographical area when the call for REC projects is announced. This might include online publications, local or regional webinars or workshops, or other activities at events during which the calls for REC projects are explained to possible interested organisations. To achieve this, the consortium must have an already established network through one or more of its members.
Activity 4: Managing the project
All projects applying under the present call for proposals are expected to set up adequate project management procedures. In addition, the role of the consortium coordinator is further explained in section 13 of this call for proposals and in the relevant provisions of the grant agreement.
Each partner organisation in the consortium must ensure efficient management of their project team and the implementation of their part of the project.
The consortium coordinator is responsible to coordinate and provide the required interim and final reports on behalf of the consortium within the deadlines specified in the grant agreement.
Further information:
- Project budgets does however not preclude the submission/selection of proposals requesting other amounts. The grant awarded may be lower than the amount requested.
- Proposals shall present a detailed budget table. The share of the budget for management and coordination activities should ideally not exceed 25% of the overall budget, although flexibility may be granted based on the quality of the proposal submitted.
- Is expected to fund around 3 projects under this call for proposals.
- There is the right not to award all available funds depending on the proposals received and the results of the evaluation.
Call Total Budget
Financing percentage by EU or other bodies / Level of Subsidy or Loan
75%
Project budgets (requested grant amount) are expected to be up to €1.000.000 per project.
Thematic Categories
- Energy
- Environment and Climate Change
- Research, Technological Development and Innovation
- Small-Medium Enterprises and Competitiveness
Eligibility for Participation
- Legal Entities
- NGOs
- Non Profit Organisations
- Other Beneficiaries
- Private Bodies
- Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions
- Semi-governmental organisations
- Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
- State-owned Enterprises
Eligibility For Participation Notes
In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:
- be legal entities (public or private bodies)
- be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
- EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs)
- non-EU countries:
- listed EEA countries and countries associated to the Single Market Programme or countries which are in ongoing negotiations for an association agreement and where the agreement enters into force before grant signature (list of participating countries)
Typically eligible applicants can be:
Enterprise Europe Network host organisations, umbrella organisations specialising in renewable energy communities, specialised consultancy/advisory organisations, organisations representing local authorities and other organisations with competencies relevant for this call for proposals.
Consortium composition
Proposals must be submitted by a consortium composed of applicants (beneficiaries; not affiliated entities), which complies with the following conditions:
- at least three partners from at least three different eligible countries
- the coordinator of the consortium must be a provider of services relevant to the purpose of this call for proposals, a business support organisation, an association/umbrella organisation in the area of renewable energies/renewable energy communities or a national, regional or local institution/authority.
EEN host organisations are typically best placed to act as coordinators for projects under this call for proposals, but the consortium can propose a different organisation, if duly justified.
The consortium coordinator may NOT participate and must NOT submit more than one proposal under this call for proposals. Multiple proposals from the same consortium coordinator will be rejected.
Applicants – other than consortium coordinators – may participate in more than one proposal under this call for proposals. But if the same applicant is participating in more than one proposal selected for a grant, the applicant will be asked to withdraw from all except one or the applicant will be rejected from all proposals.
Eligible activities: Applications will only be considered eligible if their content corresponds wholly (or at least in part) to the topic description for which they are submitted.
Eligible activities are the ones set out in section 2 above, in order to help SMEs in the agrifood and retail sectors establish renewable energy communities by providing consulting and advisory services that are not available or not accessible to SMEs in the region.
Applications must clearly specify how any potential voucher scheme will be managed and it must also clearly describe the results to be obtained.
Projects should take into account the results of projects supported by other EU funding programmes. The complementarities must be described in the project proposals (Part B of the Application Form).
Projects must comply with EU policy interests and priorities (such as environment, social, security, industrial and trade policy, etc). Projects must also respect EU values and European Commission policy regarding reputational matters (e.g. activities involving capacity building, policy support, awareness raising, communication, dissemination, etc).
Direct financial support to third parties is not allowed.
Call Opening Date
Call Closing Date
National Contact Point(s)
Ministry of Energy, Trade and Industry
Industry and Technology Service
Address: 1421, Nicosia, Cyprus
Email: sit@meci.gov.cy
Contact Person:
Spyros Triantaphyllidis
Telephone: 22867333
EU Contact Point
For help related to this call, please contact: ISMEA-SMP-COSME-ENQUIRIES@ec.europa.eu