EBRD Launches 20 Mln Euro Credit Line for Energy Efficiency Projects in Moldova

CHISINAU (Moldova), February 12 (SeeNews) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said it has launched a 20 million euro ($27.3 million) credit line to back energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in Moldova through on-lending to local private companies.

"The EBRD’s Moldova Sustainable Energy Financial Facility (MoSEFF) will finance small and medium energy efficiency investments undertaken by local enterprises operating in the industrial, agribusiness, and services sectors with loans of up to 2.0 million euro via local partner banks," the bank said in a statement.

The European Union will grant an additional 10 million euro under the facility to provide free technical assistance in assessing energy saving potential and project implementation for sub-borrowers.

It added that MoSEFF will help Moldovan companies reduce their energy consumption by financing such projects as rehabilitation and replacement of boilers, installation of meters, thermal insulation, refurbishment of heat and power distribution systems, as well as biomass and biofuel projects.

MoSEFF is expected to finance about 50-70 projects, which would result in total energy savings of 22,000 megawatthours (MWh) per year and an annual reduction in CO2 emissions of 6,600 tones annually, equivalent to an estimated 2.3 million of cubic meters of imported gas, EBRD said.

The lender has similar facilities in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia and Ukraine. Overall, the EBRD has committed 900 million euro to Sustainable Energy Financial Facilities in these countries.

($=0.7337 euro)

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