The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) promotes measures to increase energy efficiency.
You can receive funding for the following measures:

• large solar collector systems with a gross collector area of more than 40 square meters,
• large solid biomass combustion plants,
• heating networks that are fed from renewable energies,
• biogas pipelines for unprocessed biogas,
• large heat storage tanks,
• large efficient heat pumps,
• systems for combined heat and power generation (CHP).

You will not receive any funding:

• for self-built plants and used plants,
• for prototypes (systems of which there are fewer than 4 units),
• if you are a manufacturer of eligible systems or their main components,
• for trust constructions,
• for so-called in-sure transactions, such as the purchase from the property of a spouse,
• for debt rescheduling and subsequent financing of measures that have already begun,
• if you have already started the measure before submitting the application.

If you want to use heat from renewable energies, you can get a loan of up to EUR 25 million.
The amount of the subsidy for the repayment of the loan depends on the type, use and output of your system:

• Solar collector systems:
  • You will receive up to 30 percent of the eligible costs as a grant if you use your solar collector system for hot water heating, space heating, solar cooling and feeding into a heating network.
  • You receive up to 40 percent of the eligible costs as a subsidy if you feed the majority of the heat produced into a heating network with at least four consumers.
  • If your solar collector system is subsidized depending on the yield, your subsidy is calculated as follows: annual heat yield * number of solar thermal modules * EUR 0.45.
    
• Biomass plants for the combustion of solid biomass for thermal use:
  • You receive a basic subsidy of up to EUR 20 per kilowatt (kW) of installed nominal heat output. You can receive a maximum grant of EUR 50,000.
  • You can also receive an additional bonus of up to EUR 20 per kW of installed nominal heat output if your system has low dust emissions or if a buffer storage tank is installed.
  • Together with the basic subsidy and bonus payments, you can receive a maximum subsidy of EUR 100,000.
    
• Combined heat and power biomass plants:
  • You receive EUR 40 per kW of installed nominal heat output as a subsidy.
    
• Heating networks that are predominantly fed from renewable energies:
  • They receive EUR 60 for every new meter of heating network built, up to a maximum of EUR 1 million in subsidies.
  • If you feed in heat from deep geothermal plants, you can receive a subsidy of up to EUR 1.5 million.
    
• large heat accumulators:
  • You receive EUR 250 for every cubic meter of storage volume. The subsidy is limited to 30 percent of the investment costs. You can receive a maximum grant of EUR 1 million.
    
• Biogas pipelines for unprocessed biogas:
  • You receive up to 30 percent of the eligible costs as a subsidy.
    
• large, efficient heat pumps:
  • For heat pumps, you receive EUR 80 per kilowatt of heat output as a subsidy.
  • For a geothermal probe, you will receive EUR 4.00 for every meter up to 400 meters deep and EUR 6.00 from 400 meters deep as a subsidy.

If the heat and/or energy produced by your system is used for the operation of a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME), your subsidy increases by a total of 10 percent.

• Small and medium-sized enterprises have
  • have fewer than 250 employees
    and
  • an annual turnover of no more than EUR 50 million.

Eligible costs are

• only investments in the system itself (primary heating circuit),
• technical and commercial planning costs.

Not eligible for funding are

• Pipework, distribution or control in the secondary heating circuit,
• radiators, air heaters and other room heaters.

You will only receive the repayment subsidy once you have completed your measure. You must provide proof of this:
that you have spent the money from the loan on the measure,
that the measure technically fulfills its purpose.

You must keep all invoices and receipts relating to the eligible costs.

Applications for funding are processed by the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW).

You have no claim to approval of the funding.