The Modernisation Fund in Romania: What It Finances, the Main Calls and How Companies Apply

The Modernisation Fund is the EU fund, financed by auctioning EU ETS emission allowances, that pays for energy investment in 13 lower-income member states over 2021-2030, Romania among them. In Romania the money reaches companies and public bodies through the Ministry of Energy’s calls for solar and wind parks, batteries, grids and energy efficiency, and through the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme. This guide explains where the money comes from, Romania’s share, the calls so far and how to apply.

What the Modernisation Fund is

The Modernisation Fund (Fondul pentru Modernizare in Romanian) was created by Article 10d of the EU ETS Directive (2003/87/EC). It supports the modernisation of energy systems and energy efficiency in member states whose GDP per head was below 75% of the EU average in 2016-2018: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Greece, Portugal and Slovenia joined on 1 January 2024, after the 2023 revision of the directive.

Priority investments cover renewable energy (including heating and cooling), energy efficiency, storage, the modernisation of grids and district heating, support for low-income households and a just transition in coal-dependent regions. Everything else is a non-priority investment. According to the European Commission, non-priority investments may take no more than 20% of the fund (10% of the allowances added in the revision), and the fund covers at most 70% of their relevant costs.

Where the money comes from and how much Romania receives

The European Investment Bank (EIB) auctions three categories of ETS allowances and manages the proceeds:

• 2% of all allowances auctioned in 2021-2030;
• a further 2.5% of the allowances auctioned in 2024-2030, added in the 2023 revision;
• allowances that beneficiary states have chosen to transfer into the fund.

The Commission estimates total revenue at EUR 57 billion for 2021-2030 at EUR 75 per tonne of CO₂; the real figure follows the carbon price.

Romania holds 11.98% of the first category and 9.7% of the second and has transferred 143.6 million allowances into the fund. In total it holds 191.7 million allowances, almost exactly level with Czechia (191.8 million) and ahead of Poland (172.4 million). The Ministry of Energy values the allocation at about EUR 14.4 billion at the EUR 75 per tonne price the EIB uses (September 2026).

According to the ministry’s list revised on 22 September 2026, Romanian investments confirmed or recommended for financing totalled about EUR 11.96 billion, of which about EUR 7.41 billion had been approved for payment. That is close to a third of the EUR 23.2 billion the fund paid to all beneficiaries between January 2021 and July 2026. Romania received the largest amount of any beneficiary both in 2024 (EUR 1.956 billion) and in the first cycle of 2026 (EUR 636.9 million out of EUR 2.5 billion).

How the money reaches projects: the EIB, the Investment Committee and the Commission

A developer cannot apply to Brussels. The circuit has four actors:

1. The member state selects investments and submits them to the EIB and the Investment Committee. In Romania the national implementing authority is the Ministry of Energy, under Emergency Ordinance 60/2022.
2. The EIB confirms whether an investment is a priority investment; non-priority proposals go through technical and financial due diligence, including expected emission cuts.
3. The Investment Committee (member states, the Commission and the EIB) meets twice a year and issues recommendations on non-priority investments.
4. The European Commission adopts a disbursement decision after each cycle, and the EIB transfers the money to the state within 30 days.

In 2026 the Committee met on 26 March and 20 October. Member-state deadlines were 12 February and 8 September for priority proposals and 15 January and 11 August for non-priority ones. Second-cycle disbursement decisions have come in December every year since 2021.

Not every proposal passes: in the first cycle of 2026 the EIB found that 32 of the 83 priority proposals it assessed did not meet the conditions, and the Committee could not recommend Romania’s five non-priority proposals.

How to apply for Modernisation Fund support in Romania

The Ministry of Energy describes two routes:

• Calls for projects. The ministry (or an authority to which it has delegated a field, such as the Ministry of Transport) first obtains EIB confirmation for a multi-annual scheme, then launches a call with a state aid scheme and an applicant guide approved by ministerial order. Applications go through MySMIS2021 or, for the 2026 public-entity calls, the platform of the Agency for Financing Rural Investments (AFIR).
• Individual investment proposals, submitted through the ministry to the EIB and the Investment Committee on the EIB forms, with the ministry’s prior agreement.

Proposals pass through the ministry’s Supervisory Committee, and the approved list goes to the government at least 10 working days before submission to the EIB. Applicants must therefore file with the ministry at least 20 working days ahead of the EU deadlines; for the second cycle of 2026 the national deadlines were 13 July (non-priority) and 10 August (priority).

What it finances: renewables, storage and grids

The ministry runs the fund through eight key programmes. Three matter most to energy investors:

• Key Programme 1, renewable energy and energy storage: the calls for solar, wind and hydro capacity, for self-consumption or for generation, and the storage calls. The fund also finances the CfD scheme, Romania’s largest single line.
• Key Programme 3, modernisation and construction of energy infrastructure: a EUR 1.103 billion scheme for distribution grids and the smart metering call. Separately, Transelectrica has projects financed by the fund, including new 400 kV lines (Gădălin-Suceava, the Banat axis, Constanța Nord-Medgidia Sud) and digital substations such as Alba Iulia.
• Key Programme 5 for high-efficiency cogeneration and district heating, and Key Programme 7 for energy efficiency at industrial installations in the EU ETS.

The fund has also financed solar parks built by Complexul Energetic Oltenia on former mining dumps and ash deposits, low-emission transport and, as non-priority investments, the gas-fired plants at Ișalnița and Turceni and Transgaz pipelines (about EUR 530 million).

Romania’s Modernisation Fund calls for solar, wind and storage

The table summarises the ministry’s calls for renewables, storage and metering and their status as of October 2026 (see also our Modernisation Fund page).

Call	Budget	What it funds	Status (October 2026)
Self-consumption, first call (PFM/320)	EUR 415 m	New solar, wind and hydro capacity for companies’ own consumption; at most EUR 20 m per company and project	Applications 25 April to 22 August 2024; implementation extended to 31 December 2028
Renewable generation (PFM/322)	EUR 400 m	New wind, solar and hydro capacity for generation	Launched 25 April 2024; implementation extended to 31 December 2028
Storage at existing plants (PFM/530)	EUR 150 m	New behind-the-meter batteries at existing renewable plants; at most EUR 100,000/MWh and EUR 10 m per company and project	Applications 19 November 2024 to 17 February 2025; 134 applications in the provisional ranking of September 2025
Self-consumption, second call (PFM/527)	EUR 310.7 m	Same technologies; scored on aid requested per MW and on storage of at least 12 minutes	Applications 22 May to 21 September 2025; provisional lists in March 2026 (369 solar applications under 5 MW, 9 over 5 MW)
Standalone batteries	EUR 150 m	At least 2,174 MWh of new capacity; at most EUR 69,000/MWh and EUR 15 m per company	Open on MySMIS2021 until 30 October 2026, 14:00
Public entities: solar with integrated storage	EUR 500 m	Solar with storage for self-consumption, optionally heat pumps; at most EUR 900,000/MW (EUR 1.1 m/MW with heat pumps) and EUR 10 m per beneficiary	Open on the AFIR platform until 20 November 2026 or until the budget is used up
Public entities: storage	EUR 150 m	New storage for renewable electricity; at most EUR 200,000/MWh and EUR 10 m per beneficiary	Open on the AFIR platform until 20 November 2026 or until the budget is used up
Smart metering	EUR 100 m	Meters and digital systems of distribution operators; at most EUR 25 m per beneficiary	Open on MySMIS2021 until 2 December 2026

The standalone battery call ranks projects by the state aid requested per installed MWh. Companies of any size with activities in CAEN division 35 may apply, including newly established ones with at least RON 100,000 of paid-up capital. Installations need at least 1 MW, an energy-to-power ratio of at least 2:1 and commissioning within 48 months of signing the financing contract. The details are in our BESS guide, our analysis of the EUR 150 million call and the energy storage page.

How the aid works: intensity, selection and obligations

Form and intensity. The calls so far have offered grants (non-repayable state aid). In the self-consumption calls and the call for storage at existing plants, aid is paid in lei as reimbursement of eligible expenditure incurred, so beneficiaries pre-finance the works. The 2026 guides allow up to 100% of eligible costs, subject to caps per MW or MWh and per beneficiary.

Selection. For companies the ministry has used competitive bidding: the less aid an applicant requests per MW or MWh, the higher it ranks. The 2026 public-entity calls apply a first-come, first-evaluated rule until the budget runs out.

Eligibility differs from call to call. The call for storage at existing plants excluded newly established companies and required the battery to take at least 75% of its energy each year from the plant it is connected to. The first self-consumption call excluded agriculture and food processing, which have a separate scheme run by the Ministry of Agriculture.

Obligations. Projects must respect the “do no significant harm” (DNSH) principle and the deadlines in the guide. Private beneficiaries not bound by public procurement law follow the ministry’s methodological guide of September 2024: direct purchases are allowed only below RON 10,000 for goods and services and RON 50,000 for works, and above those thresholds the procedure is competitive and publicly announced, with the specification and draft contract. Works contracts can be awarded before the financing contract but not before the application is approved, and any price increase is borne by the beneficiary. At EU level a scheme must show payments at least once every two years; otherwise the investment is treated as discontinued and unspent money returns to the fund.

The Modernisation Fund, the CfD scheme and PNRR

The CfD scheme. Romania’s 15-year Contracts for Difference for solar and onshore wind are financed by the Modernisation Fund. According to the Ministry of Energy, the funding, first estimated at EUR 3 billion, was set at EUR 2.395 billion on the basis of the strike prices in the first two rounds; by September 2026 about EUR 479 million had been approved for payment. The rounds awarded 1.53 GW (December 2024), 2,751 MW (August 2025) and about 316 MW of wind (December 2025). A CfD pays revenue per MWh generated, while the calls pay part of the investment. The Commission allows co-financing only if state aid rules are respected and the same costs are not funded by another EU or national instrument.

PNRR. Romania’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan closed on 31 August 2026, and Recovery and Resilience Facility payments end on 31 December 2026. The Modernisation Fund runs to 2030 with two disbursement cycles a year and carries a growing share of EU grant money for energy (see our analysis of the end of PNRR).

Applicant checklist

1. Choose the route. Companies and public bodies apply to calls; large projects of state-owned companies come in as individual proposals.
2. Read the scheme and the guide, not only the announcement. CAEN codes, company age, paid-up capital, caps and scoring differ from call to call.
3. Check the grid connection. The technical connection permit (ATR) and the grid operator’s timetable decide whether you can meet the commissioning deadline (see our ATR guide and the grid connection page).
4. Calibrate the aid request. Low aid lifts the ranking but leaves more of the cost to equity and debt.
5. Arrange pre-financing. Where the aid is a reimbursement, the money arrives after costs are incurred.
6. Plan procurement under the ministry’s guide. EPC and equipment contracts are awarded through a published competitive procedure.
7. Check inverter and PCS suppliers against the EU restrictions on high-risk suppliers.
8. Watch the platform. Clarifications, provisional lists and appeals run through MySMIS2021 or AFIR.

Momentum Energy’s view

For an EPC, a project financed by the Modernisation Fund means fixed deadlines and fixed paperwork. The commissioning date in the guide, for example 48 months from the financing contract for standalone batteries or 31 December 2029 for public entities, becomes the longstop date of the EPC contract. Procurement has to follow a competitive procedure, and acceptance records and proof of payment have to survive audit. In our view the construction schedule, technical specifications and documentation should be aligned with the guide before the application is filed, not after approval.

We hold ANRE (Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority) certifications for design (E1), execution (E2) and testing (A3), and we are the EPC contractor for a 79 MWp solar plant in Alba County. A grant improves the entry case, but it does not rescue a project without a grid connection or financing for the rest. Our services cover the path from development to EPC and O&M.

Sources and references

Organisations and documents cited in this article.

1. European Commission: Modernisation Fund (page last reviewed 2 July 2026)
2. Modernisation Fund: How it works (allowances per beneficiary Member State)
3. Modernisation Fund: Frequently asked questions
4. European Commission and EIB: EUR 2.5 billion of EU ETS revenues invested in cleaner energy systems in 11 EU countries (2 July 2026)
5. Commission Decision C(2026) 4325 of 16 June 2026 on disbursement of Modernisation Fund revenues, Annex 1
6. Modernisation Fund Investment Committee: Annual report 2024
7. Ministry of Energy: list of Modernisation Fund investments confirmed or recommended for financing (revised 22 September 2026)
8. Ministry of Energy: notice on the 2026 Investment Committee calendar and submission deadlines (28 November 2025)
9. Ministry of Energy: notice on accessing Modernisation Fund financing (August 2024)
10. Ministry of Energy: methodological guide for private beneficiaries not subject to public procurement law (September 2024)
11. Ministry of Energy: launch of two calls for new renewable capacity, EUR 415 million and EUR 400 million (April 2024)
12. Ministry of Energy: extension of the first self-consumption call to 22 August 2024
13. Ministry of Energy: call for battery storage at existing renewable plants, PFM/530 (November 2024)
14. Ministry of Energy: extension of call PFM/530 to 17 February 2025
15. Ministry of Energy: provisional ranking for call PFM/530 (September 2025)
16. Ministry of Energy: second self-consumption call, PFM/527 (May 2025)
17. Ministry of Energy: extension of call PFM/527 to 21 September 2025
18. Ministry of Energy: provisional list for call PFM/527, solar under 5 MW (13 March 2026)
19. Ministry of Energy: provisional list for call PFM/527, solar over 5 MW (13 March 2026)
20. Ministry of Energy: extension of implementation deadlines for Key Programme 1 renewable calls (May 2026)
21. Ministry of Energy: launch of the standalone battery storage call (August 2026)
22. Ministry of Energy: call for solar with integrated storage for public entities (September 2026)
23. Ministry of Energy: call for new storage capacity for public entities (September 2026)
24. Ministry of Energy: smart metering call (July 2026)
25. ANRE (Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority)
26. Transelectrica (transmission system operator)
27. Romanian Ministry of Energy
28. European Investment Bank (EIB)
29. European Commission
30. EU Modernisation Fund (European Commission, Climate Action)