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 and aims to 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, the selected consortia shall organise one or more calls for expressions of interest for third party support, offering legal and technical advisory and consulting services to support projects aimed at establishing RECs. Services shall be provided directly by the members of the consortium and/or through a voucher system for more specific local services.
Budget
The estimated available call budget is EUR 2 900 000.
Number of projects to be funded: 3
Project duration: 24 months (extensions are possible, only if duly justified and through an amendment of the Grant agreement).
Capacity Building (Masterclasses, Peer-to-Peer Learning, Technical Assistance)
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)
European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA)