New rush of applications to calls announced in the framework of the New Széchenyi Plan27 March 2013
In the first few hours already support requests were sent amounting to four times the budget framework, therefore the National Development Agency (NDA) already on the first day suspended four calls for proposals in the Environment and Energy Operational Programme (EEOP). The new extremely successful calls for proposals offered support in the value of HUF 50.5 billion in three energy efficiency and one renewable energy schemes. At the end of the seven year programming period there is more and more interest in the calls of the New Széchenyi Plan, which increases Hungary’s chances to draw down the complete support budget.
A waiting period of more than two years preceded the new announcement of the calls for proposals in the energy field, which had also been really popular before.
The public, non-profit and entrepreneurial sector had already been waiting since 2011 for the schemes created as the result of reallocation among Operational Programmes. The Hungarian Government submitted the amendment application for the Operational Programmes to the European Commission in December 2011. The decision in Brussels was made after 9 months of waiting and after a successful series of negotiations in August 2012 Hungary was able to reallocate resources to calls for proposals in the energy field in the value of HUF 108 billion.
The calls for proposals issued for social dialogue, had been available on the NDA’s website since October 2012, for four months, when the final calls were officially published as of December for energy efficiency and as of January for renewable energy related developments. Already in 2012 project owners with a responsible way of thinking and serious intentions to apply had a chance to prepare that the building energy applications require technical, financial, legal etc. preparations. In view of all the above there was equal amount of time and information available for everyone to submit applications.
Consequently, it is not surprising that even before the deadline the decisions were made about the future of the three energy efficiency calls announced not long ago with a framework budget of HUF 34 billion offering opportunities for complex building renovation for energy efficiency, for the use of renewable energy in buildings and for the energy efficient modernization of the district heating sector. The NDA considers such rate of interest from the applicants in the energy developments as a success.
Based on the experiences of recent weeks a similarly fast suspension can be expected in the schemes based on the use of renewable energy announced with a financial envelope of HUF 18.5 billion to be opened in a few days.
The call for renewable energy based electricity, co-generated heat and electricity and biomethane production was also suspended yesterday by the NDA, the reason for which is also the depletion of the available HUF 16.5 billion allocation. Since on Monday the rate of support requests indicated was already higher than 260%. Pursuant to the legal regulations applications sent until midnight 20th February 2013 will be evaluated by the National Development Agency and following the decision applicants will be informed about the evaluation results.
Receiving and evaluating the increased number of requests demands outstanding performance from both the intermediary organization and the National Development Agency; the feasibility of the above is owed to the intensive work of the respective employees. Such a dumping of applications means a high priority task, additional costs and the involvement of extra human resources as the excessive number applications also have to be duly evaluated regardless of the fact that the allocation is expected to be exhausted.
In the recent period the NDA has had to suspend several similar programmes due to the depletion of funds, which reflects very well that the applicants also feel that the end of the 2007-2013 programming period is coming closer. However, this enables the NDA even more to facilitate the implementation of more and more successful projects and maximize the absorption of EU funding by committing the funds as early as possible and starting the projects as soon as possible.