Last June, the BOE (the Spanish Official State Gazette) publishedOrder TED/569/2026, setting the regulatory bases of the INNOVAE Programme, the new non-repayable grant scheme of theIDAE for singular, innovative energy saving and efficiency projects. The initial budget is 115 million euros drawn from the National Energy Efficiency Fund (FNEE), and the programme is organised into four sectoral subprogrammes: sustainable mobility, industry, tertiary buildings and industrial refrigeration units.
The specific call has yet to open, and this is exactly the window of opportunity companies should not waste. Experience with this type of programme is clear: proposals drafted against the clock once the official deadline opens systematically suffer from inconsistent metrics and documentary gaps that lead to rejection at the pre-assessment stage. Well-prepared projects are designed before the deadline opens, not during it.
Four subprogrammes for four energy challenges
The INNOVAE Programme is not a generic support scheme for any investment. It funds singular and innovative projects —that is, with a differential technological component or a disruptive solution— that achieve a measurable saving of final energy. The four subprogrammes address very specific fields of application:
Subprogramme 1: sustainable mobility. Projects that reduce the energy consumption of transport (fleet electrification, hydrogen, mobility digitalisation Royal Decree 7/2026 brings Mobility Plans forward by 1 year, intermodal systems).
Subprogramme 2: industry. The most relevant for Spain’s productive fabric. It covers technological improvements in industrial processes that demonstrate a minimum saving of 20% of final energy. Eligible projects must have a minimum budget of 100,000 euros and must not have started any investment before the formal registration of the application.
Subprogramme 3: tertiary buildings. Innovative measures in non-residential buildings (offices, hotels, retail, healthcare, education) that exceed the standard requirements of the CTE (the Spanish Building Code) and incorporate advanced management, insulation or generation solutions.
Subprogramme 4: industrial refrigeration units. Replacement or improvement of industrial refrigeration systems with high-efficiency technologies, use of waste cold or refrigerants with low global warming potential.
Key requirements to be clear about from the very first minute
Beyond the specific thresholds of each INNOVAE subprogramme, an analysis of the regulatory bases identifies five structural requirements that will decide the eligibility of any project:
Incentive effect. The investment must not have started before the application was registered. Only preparatory work is accepted (feasibility studies, basic engineering, licences). This is a systematic ground for rejection in similar programmes — the timetable must be watertight.
Quantified and verifiable energy saving. The industrial subprogramme requires a minimum of 20% saving of final energy. The quantification must be based on a rigorous baseline and recognised methodologies (GHG Protocol or MITECO standards). Without a robust baseline, there is no defensible project.
Demonstrable innovation. This is not a generic efficiency programme: the innovative character relative to the market has to be justified. That does not mean “technology new to the world”, but it does mean a solution with a differential component compared with standard practice in the sector.
Variable maximum intensity. The support percentage depends on the size of the company (large, medium, small) and on the type of project. In some cases, SMEs can access significantly higher intensities — this calculation must be done beforehand, not afterwards.
Compatibility with other support. The financial design of the operation must consider compatibility with other schemes (personal income tax (IRPF) deductions, CAE, regional support), respecting the maximum cumulative intensity limits allowed by European state aid rules.
Fit with the decarbonisation support ecosystem
The INNOVAE Programme does not exist in isolation: it is part of an ecosystem of financial instruments for industrial decarbonisation that includes the PERTE for Industrial Decarbonisation Decarbonisation is not just sustainability it is opportunity (non-competitive allocation, in order of submission), regional calls such as the ICAEN 2026 support scheme, the tax deductions for self-consumption investments under Royal Decree 7/2026, and the mechanism of Energy Saving Certificates (CAE) recently reformulated byOrder TED/635/2026.
For a company considering a significant investment in efficiency or decarbonisation, the relevant question is not “which scheme do I apply to”, but which combination of instruments maximises the return while respecting the cumulation limits. In practice, that analysis is where a specialist consultancy adds its differential value.
Use cases by sector
Experience with similar programmes identifies project types that tend to fit the INNOVAE industrial subprogramme very well:
Agri-food industry. Heat recovery from ovens and cold rooms, digitalisation of process lines with AI applied to energy optimisation, by-product recovery systems.
Chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Mechanical vapour recompression, process energy integration (pinch analysis), electrification of medium-temperature thermal operations.
Metallurgy and ceramics. Replacement of fossil-fired kilns with hybrid or electrified solutions, high-temperature waste heat recovery systems.
Logistics and refrigeration sector. Refrigeration with natural refrigerants (CO₂, ammonia, propane) and intelligent cold management systems.
What to do before the call opens
We recommend three immediate actions to interested companies:
Baseline energy audit. Without a reliable consumption history and a well-documented baseline, there is no defensible project. If the current audit is more than three years old or does not include a level of detail suitable for INNOVAE, it must be updated now.
Technical pre-selection of the investment. Identify which specific investment fits, quantify the expected saving with a rigorous methodology and estimate its budget according to eligible costs. This step determines whether it makes sense to continue.
Financial and legal structuring. Analysis of maximum intensity, compatibility with other support, legal form of the operation, execution timetable and cash flow. A technically brilliant project with weak financial structuring will not be financed.
At auma auma we support industry, developers and public administrations in the technical and strategic design of projects eligible for programmes such as INNOVAE: from the initial energy audit and the quantification of savings through to structuring the operation and coordinating it with the complementary mechanisms (CAE, PERTE, regional). The INNOVAE Programme is not just another opportunity: it is one of the largest schemes by volume of support for industrial efficiency that the current framework offers. Getting ahead of it is, right now, the best decision any company with a pending investment can take.