The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing additional resources to support Ukraine’s energy efficiency drive with the launch of the €75 million Ukraine Residential Energy Efficiency Financing Facility (IQ energy).
The programme promotes residential energy efficiency in a country which contains one of the largest housing stocks in Europe (over 10 million buildings). IQ energy will be implemented through partner-banks UkrSibbank, OTP Bank and Megabank, which have a strong network of branches across Ukraine. The programme will be supported by an extensive energy efficiency awareness campaign.
Almost two decades after signing the first energy efficiency project in the country, the EBRD remains one of the key financiers of the sector by committing more than one-third of its annual investments to this important cause.
Eligible borrowers under the programme will be able to receive loans for a wide range of energy efficiency measures. These may include: insulation of walls, roofs and ground floors; installation of modern energy-efficient windows, gas and biomass boilers; heat supply system upgrades; installation of solar thermal systems and many others.
IQ energy is supported by grant funding of up to €15 million from the Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership (E5P), to which the European Union is the largest contributor. The funds will be used, depending on the type of investment, to reimburse up to 20 per cent of loan amounts for individual borrowers and up to 35 per cent of loan amounts for housing associations. IQ energy also benefits from technical assistance funding for programme implementation, provided by E5P and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).
It is expected that potential clients will employ high-performing technologies and measures, which may allow them to achieve higher (20 per cent or more) energy efficiency compared with their current performance and should be able to significantly reduce their utility bills. Households and housing associations will also be able to choose the best-available technologies to address their individual needs through the programme’s website www.iqenergy.org.ua. Individuals can make their grant applications online through the site.
Sevki Acuner, Director of EBRD Operations-Ukraine said: “Despite the substantial decrease in energy intensity over the last decade, the Ukrainian economy remains one of the least energy efficient among all the EBRD’s countries of operations and highly dependent on fuel imports. Being responsible for over 33 per cent of Ukraine’s total energy consumption, the residential housing sector is the largest energy consumer in the country. In this respect, IQ energy will provide much-needed and timely funding but will also help change the energy consumption patterns of domestic households.”
The EBRD is the largest international financial investor in Ukraine. As of mid-March 2016, the Bank had a total cumulative commitment of over €11 billion through 363 projects in the country.
