The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) could provide a senior loan of up to EUR 25 million to the communal company Dnipro Municipal Energy Servicing Company (Dniprovska Municipalna Energoservisna Kompanya, the city of Dnipro) for energy efficiency investments in 98 public buildings, including 67 kindergartens, 27 schools and 4 outpatient clinics.
“The investments are expected to result in strong improvement of buildings’ condition through renovation of facilities and meeting heating requirements, improved comfort level and reliability of services at kindergartens, schools and clinics, as well as reduction of energy and maintenance costs of the buildings and decrease of CO2 emissions,” the bank said on Tuesday.
The project is pending of the decision of the EBRD board on October 13.
According to the document, the loan maturity is up to 13 years, including up to three years grace, with 20 equal semi-annual repayments. The loan will be secured by a full municipal guarantee from the city.
The loan is expected to be co-financed by up to EUR 5.5 million investment grant from the Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership (E5P), subject to grant approval by the E5P Assembly of Contributors.
The local contribution of up to EUR 2.5 million will cover additional energy conservation measures and capital repairs.
The EBRD said that the loan will be a sub-project under the Public Sector Energy Efficiency Financing Framework (PSEEF), consisting of municipal-guaranteed loans to municipal energy management companies in Ukraine to facilitate critical improvements in energy efficiency measures in public buildings in a number of cities across Ukraine.
In the period from May 1 to May 12, 2020, state-owned banks issued UAH 67 million of energy efficiency financing to those who plan to improve energy efficiency of their homes in 2020, according to the Energy Reform Internet portal.
State Agency of Ukraine on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving said on Wednesday, May 13, that last week financing was received by another 1,544 households and some 122 associations of multi-apartment block co-owners took advantage of the program, namely, more than UAH 35 million for thermal insulation of apartment buildings, about UAH 32 million for energy efficient measures in private households, UAH 900,000 for solid fuel boilers.
“In fact, more energy efficiency financing was issued for a week than for the entire month of April, which amounted to UAH 63 million. More than UAH 130 million of financing for energy efficiency purposes has been issued to the population and the associations of multi-apartment block co-owners since the beginning of the program,” the agency said.
State-controlled Oschadbank and Ukreximbank (Kyiv) have signed an agreement on cooperation with the State Agency of Ukraine on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving under the program of energy efficiency financing for the population in 2020.
According to a statement on the website of Ukreximbank, the financial institution will provide energy efficiency financing for individuals for energy efficient measures in private houses with the possibility of receiving compensation for 35% of the loan amount, but not more than UAH 14,000.
In order to obtain advice from a loan specialist and determine the time of a visit to a bank office, individuals need to contact the nearest office of the financial institution by telephone in advance. Such measures have been taken to prevent the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) and minimize contacts between citizens during the quarantine period, the bank said in the statement.
According to the agency’s statement on its Facebook page on Thursday, April 16, Oschadbank will provide energy efficiency financing to individuals for the purchase of gas boilers with solid fuel, energy efficient materials and equipment for private houses, as well as for associations of multi-apartment block co-owners for the introduction of energy-efficient measures multi-apartment buildings.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has amended the charter of the Energy Efficiency Fund, increasing its charter capital by UAH 1.119 billion, MP Oleksiy Honcharenko has said. “The Cabinet of Ministers has increased the charter capital of the Energy Efficiency Fund by UAH 1.119 billion,” he said on Telegram.
The decision will allow implementing 2,041 thermal modernization projects for multi-apartment buildings, the press service of the Ministry for Community and Territory Development said.
As reported, the national budget of Ukraine for 2019 foresees UAH 1.6 billion for the charter capital of the Energy Efficiency Fund.
The Energy Efficiency Fund intends within five years to finance more than 16,000 projects under the energy modernization program for the associations of co-owners of multi-apartment buildings.
The State Agency of Ukraine on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving together with the Nordic Environmental Finance Corporation (NEFCO) and experts from the Finland Ukraine Trust Fund is initiating the development of a concept for a new financial instrument in Ukraine – the Green Investment Fund (GIF UA), head of the agency Serhiy Savchuk has said.
“Work on the fund will be another priority area of partnership between the Finnish Foreign Ministry, NEFCO and the state energy efficiency agency. Close cooperation between Ukraine and Finland was secured by the signing of a relevant memorandum in 2017,” he said on his Facebook page.
According to Savchuk, the fund will provide co-financing for new “green” energy projects and remove major barriers to the implementation of these projects: a lack of collateral, demand for equity, etc.
“Our goal is to establish in Ukraine a reliable financial instrument for financing projects like Green Investment Group in the UK, DEG in Germany,” the expert said.
The European Union (EU) has selected Laura Garbenciute its representative in the supervisory board of the Energy Efficiency Fund of Ukraine, thus, completing the creation of the board. According to a report of the press service of the Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Economy Ministry, earlier Garbenciute worked in PricewaterhouseCoopers and has considerable experience in the audit sphere.
As reported, two representatives from the government, one representative from international donors and two independent representatives are members of the supervisory board of the Energy Efficiency Fund. They are elected for five years. The same person is restricted to three terms of office and may be selected only at a tender.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine selected its representatives in the supervisory board of the Energy Efficiency Fund: Deputy Finance Minister Yuriy Heletei and Director of the life-support systems economy department of the Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Economy Ministry Natalia Khotsianovska.
Winners of the tender to select independent members of the supervisory board of the Energy Efficiency Fund are Andrzej Rajkiewicz (Poland) and Yulia Sabatiuk (Ukraine).
