This Plan was adopted by the Poitou-Charentes Region in January 2008, with the following action priorities:
- to develop renewable energy generation, via the installation of 650 000 m² of solar panels;
- to strengthen regional energy self-sufficiency;
- to create 1 000 jobs across the region;
- to establish a true solar energy sector in the Poitou-Charentes Region;
- to reduce greenhouse gases.
The solar energy generation target for 2012 is ambitious: 73 GWh in Poitou-Charentes, i.e. 1.5 times what the whole of France produced in 2007, for just 2.8% of the country’s population. This challenge fits in perfectly with the European Union’s renewables target of 20% of the energy mix by 2020, explaining why the Region’s Solar Energy Plan has received the full backing of the EIB, the EU’s financing institution, which attaches priority to support for energy projects and the development of clean energy.
The European Investment Bank is the European Union’s long-term financing institution. Established by the Treaty of Rome in 1958, its mission is to support through its activities the development of EU policies. It borrows funds on the capital markets in order to finance on the keenest terms projects that are in line with EU strategies. Every year, it makes available finance totalling some EUR 45bn in support of projects located in the EU, of which some EUR 4.5bn in 2008 for projects in France.
EIB loans contribute chiefly to economic and social cohesion, environmental protection, research and innovation, support for SMEs, the development of trans-European transport and energy networks and the promotion of secure, competitive and sustainable energy supplies. The last of these items is a priority objective, for which it earmarked EUR 10.2bn in 2008, of which EUR 2.2bn for the development of renewable energy sources, a figure that has trebled in the past two years. Of the renewable energy segments financed by the EIB in ten European countries, solar energy made rapid inroads in 2008, accounting for 35% of loans compared to 9% the previous year.
Note to editors
The EIB
The European Investment Bank is the European Union’s long-term financing institution. Established by the Treaty of Rome in 1958, its mission is to support through its activities the development of EU policies. It borrows funds on the capital markets in order to finance on the keenest terms projects that are in line with EU strategies. Every year, it makes available finance totalling some EUR 45bn in support of projects located in the EU, of which some EUR 4.5bn in 2008 for projects in France.
EIB loans contribute chiefly to economic and social cohesion, environmental protection, research and innovation, support for SMEs, the development of trans-European transport and energy networks and the promotion of secure, competitive and sustainable energy supplies. The last of these items is a priority objective, for which it earmarked EUR 10.2bn in 2008, of which EUR 2.2bn for the development of renewable energy sources, a figure that has trebled in the past two years. Of the renewable energy segments financed by the EIB in ten European countries, solar energy made rapid inroads in 2008, accounting for 35% of loans compared to 9% the previous year.