Today in Rome, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Enel Green Power (EGP) signed the first EUR 440 million instalment of a EUR 600 million loan for financing the company’s three-year investment programme in Italy. Recently listed on the stock exchange, EGP is a subsidiary of the Enel group operating in the renewable and alternative energies sector.
Specifically, the operation concerns EGP’s 2011-2013 investment programme centring on the installation of 840 MW of new renewable energy capacity through the construction of small and medium-scale wind farms and photovoltaic plants in 50 locations throughout Italy but largely concentrated in the south. The total cost of EGP’s three-year investment programme will be around EUR 1 260 million, almost half of which will be covered by the EIB loan.
The loan comes under one of the EIB’s priority areas of action: financing projects in the energy sector that contribute to increasing generating capacity from alternative sources. Such operations serve to diversify energy sources, reducing the environmental impact and improving overall efficiency with the aim of enhancing the long-term stability of the energy supply.
The operation will contribute to the implementation of the European Union’s 2020 Strategy, which includes the environmental goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 20% over the next few years.
Note:
The European Investment Bank supports the policy and strategic objectives of the European Union by providing long-term loans for economically viable projects. The EIB’s shareholders are the EU’s 27 Member States. Italy is one of the four major shareholders, together with the United Kingdom, Germany and France (each holding 16.2% of the capital).