Thomas ÖSTROS

The EIB has signed a €110 million loan agreement with Lithuanian energy company AB Ignitis Grupė. The financing is intended to be used to install smart meters and implement IT solutions for data collection and management with the energy distribution operator AB “Energijos skirstymo operatorius” (ESO). The replacement of existing electromechanical meters included in this operation corresponds to almost 66% of all the installed meters currently installed in Lithuania.

The EIB has signed a $350 million loan agreement to support the financing of Europe’s first home-grown gigafactory for lithium-ion battery cells, Northvolt Ett, in Sweden. The financing is supported by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the main pillar of the Investment Plan for Europe. In 2018, the EIB also supported the establishment of the demonstration line Northvolt Labs, which produced its first battery cells in late 2019, and which paved the way for Europe’s first home-grown gigafactory.

The EIB has signed a SEK 3.5 billion loan agreement with the Region of Skane in Southern Sweden to finance the modernisation of the regional University Hospital in Malmö. The hospital is currently providing its services from buildings from the sixties and seventies, which are no longer fit for purpose. Skane’s regional council therefore approved a long-term investment programme to house the core medical services in new facilities and rehabilitate the existing facilities for administrative purposes.