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The Investment Programme includes the development of dedicated pipelines to connect biomethane production facilities directly to Italy’s gas transmission network.
The aim is to contribute to decarbonise the natural gas uses by directly connecting biomethane producers to the existing network.
The investments will help decarbonise by directly connecting biomethane producers to the existing natural gas network in Italy. The Investment Programme contributes to the integration of low-carbon gas and thus reduces carbon externalities. The Project contributes to maintaining or increasing security of supply by diversifying energy sources. Security of supply can be considered as a public good. The investment is in line with the REPowerEU plan, which has set an ambitious target for biomethane production at 35 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year by 2030.
The investment will allow the Promoter to decarbonise the gas network and contribute to a circular economy. The financing of the Investment will contribute to the Bank's lending priority policy on "Enabling Infrastructure" and it contributes to climate action and environmental sustainability objectives.
The programme will lead to 239 km of new pipelines for renewable biomethane and a total of around 12,000 GWh/year of low carbon energy being transported. The economic benefits and broader social benefits are rated "excellent". The recovery of such investments is met via the regulated return of the transmission system operator. The Promoter is experienced and capable to ensure very good governance of implementation and operations.
The EIB lowers the associated cost of funding by offering a loan tenor and disbursement period beyond those usually proposed by other financiers. Support of the Project for such a relatively long tenor sends a strong signal to the market confirming the long term soundness of the Borrower's business plan.
Based on their technical characteristics, the Programme components are expected to fall under Annex II of the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive (EIA) (2011/92/EC as amended by Directive 2014/52/EC), which requires the national competent authority to determine whether an environmental impact assessment is required using the criteria defined in Annex III of the Directive. This will be confirmed during appraisal. Depending on the location of the different Programme components, there may be specific environmental aspects which will also be further verified during appraisal. Where and if applicable, the requirements of the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive 2011/92/EU as amended by Directive 2014/52/EU, Industrial Emissions Directive 2010/75, Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC, Birds Directive 2009/147/EC and Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC will be checked during appraisal. The feedstock is expected to be locally sourced and its sustainability will be reviewed on the basis of national incentives to be awarded to biomethane producers (or acceptable third party certifications) that align with the Renewable Energy Directive II 2018/2001 and the EU Taxonomy 2020/852 in terms of sustainability and greenhouse gas savings.
The EIB will require the Promoter to ensure that contracts for implementation of the project will be tendered in accordance with the applicable EU procurement legislation (Directives 2014/23/EU and 2014/25/EU as well as Directive 92/13/EEC), as interpreted by the Court of Justice of the EU, with publication of tender notices in the EU Official Journal, as and where required.