- European Investment Bank (EIB) signs €55 million loan agreement with AB Kauno Energija to upgrade the municipal.
- Financing will be used to implement innovative heat and cooling production facilities using renewable energy sources.
On August 7, AB Kauno Energija, managed by Kaunas Municipality, signed a €55 million loan agreement with the European Investment Bank. The loan will be used to finance the company's investment program over the coming 5 years. In this period, the company plans to invest in the implementation of innovative heat and cooling production facilities using renewable energy sources, digitisation of processes, as well as modernisation of pipelines and construction of new pipelines.
Technically speaking, the investments regard the modernisation of the boilers for the heating, the replacement of some 368 km of old pipes, installing of nearly 63 km of new ones, which will also allow connecting new houses to the network.
“This is an important step in the development phase of the company, which will contribute to the implementation of major technological innovations and achieve the strategic goals of the city's climate change management. Investments in innovative technologies will also allow to increase our operational efficiency and offer new energy services to the market under attractive conditions.” says Tomas Garasimavičius, General Director of AB Kauno Energija.
“When the EIB adopted its new Energy Lending Policy last year, this was the kind of project that would be an example for how the Bank should support the fight against climate change.” added EIB Vice-President Thomas Östros. “Once the current healthcare crisis will have subsided, Europe needs to rebound and find a way back to economic growth and prosperity. However, this time around, we need to make sure that the recovery from the crisis is a green one. When it comes to that, investments like this one in Kaunas Energija are the way to go.”
The volume of planned investment projects is €112 million, slightly under half of which will be financed by the European Investment Bank’s loan facility, which will be repaid within 20 years. By providing a loan of this size to an energy company managed by Kaunas Municipality, the European Investment Bank pursues one of its operational goals - to support activities aimed at slowing down climate change. The future investments of Kauno Energija AB are precisely focused on technologies that will further reduce CO2 emissions from own production sources and thereby contribute to slowing down climate change.