Monday 24 September 2012

EU bank provides €200m for Ukraine’s renewables

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has provided Ukraine a loan worth €200 million (£160m) to support its renewable energy resources.

The fund will help finance the country’s UkrHydroEnergo project, which involves upgrading hydropower projects with a total capacity of 980MW.

This includes refurbishing 22 conventional and pumped storage hydropower units at six power stations along the Dnieper River in central Ukraine.

Hydropower involves the process of producing electricity from the energy of falling water.

Upon completion, the project is expected to improve the performance of the Ukrainian power system and help in operating with the European electricity transmission system.

Anton Rop, EIB’s Vice President said: “This is the first EIB-financed project in Ukraine contributing to increasing the share of electricity generation from renewable sources. This will contribute to the reduction of alternative fossil fuel consumption implying a significant decrease in CO2 emissions and help Ukraine to meet its climate change commitments.”

Earlier this year the EIB also provided a £1.3 million funding for an energy efficiency scheme in Birmingham.