Bruxelles, 29/04/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 29 April, the European Investment Bank (EIB) signed a €20m finance contract with Sincrotrone Trieste for the completion and launching of the new FERMI@Elettra light source. FERMI@Elettra is based on a newly designed free-electron laser for studying materials and as an international laboratory will be open to the scientific community and to companies. The EIB loan will cover 50% of the cost of the final phase of the project. With the new source, which will enter into operation in 2011 and complement the Elettra syncrotron's light source (inaugurated in 1994), Sincrotrone Trieste intends to establish itself over the next few years as one of the major players in Europe and globally in the study of surfaces and new materials at the atomic and subatomic level. The EIB finance for Sincrotrone Trieste will also cover the cost of completing the tri generation plant for supplying the new laboratory, which will double the efficiency of the energy used compared with a conventional plant. (O.L./transl.fl)