The European Investment Bank (EIB) has announced that it will provide strategic financial advice and support to RenFuel (Sweden), Bioforever (Netherlands) and Magaldi (Italy) to help prepare their climate action projects for potential financing. All three projects address climate change by developing innovative demonstration plants:
- Magaldi Power will develop a new solar thermal generation and storage concept in which a fluidised bed of sand generates green thermal or electrical power that is dispatchable on demand. The promoter is based in Italy and its demonstration project will be located in southern Europe.
- Bioforever will develop a demonstration-scale wood-to-ethanol bio-refinery plant in the Netherlands, with a capacity of 35,000 tonnes of wood waste, producing 8,000 tonnes of ethanol per year.
- RenFuel Lignolproduktion AB will develop a production plant for lignin oil. RenFuel’s plant plans to extract 70, 000 tonnes of lignin, which will result in an annual production capacity of approximately 185,000 tonnes of lignin oil.
The promoters and the EIB, through InnovFin Advisory – a programme supported by the European Commission to advise companies on how to structure their projects in order to improve their access to finance – will work on bringing the projects to maturity. The EIB will provide extensive knowledge sharing to each promoter and help them navigate the financing schemes that exist within and beyond the EIB, in order to bring these types of project to life. The EIB offers numerous options for companies looking for funding, such as corporate loans, project finance or venture debt.
Commenting on the development, Clara De La Torre, Deputy Director-General for Climate Action, European Commission said, “The European Green Deal puts great importance on supplying clean energy and channeling investments into innovation and clean-tech solutions to attain our ambitious climate goals. Now, with the EIB and the European Commission’s financial support, we can help scale up low-carbon technologies and facilitate the transition towards climate neutrality. These successful projects aim to demonstrate an effective pathway for doing so.”
