Brussels, 03/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - Supporting renewable energy generation and the energy refurbishment of buildings while meeting the financing needs of project promoters throughout the region - that is the aim of a financing agreement worth a total of €300 million signed on Monday 2 July by France's Centre Region and the European Investment Bank (EIB).
This operation is being jointly financed by the EIB with a €150 million credit line channelled through two partner banks: Crédit Agricole and Banque Populaire Val de France et Caisse d'Epargne (BPCE Group). These two bank groups will together match this loan with a further €150 million to co-finance this major regional renewables and energy efficiency project. The local partner banks will make available to project promoters throughout the region a total package of €300 million in the form of loans with favourable interest rates. The Regional Guarantee Fund, in partnership with Oséo (a public body for innovation funding), will also be mobilised to support the initiatives of very small, small and medium-sized enterprises - clearly improving the loan terms offered to small businesses, including farms. The programme financed is unique in France in terms of both the range of energy forms involved (solar, wind, biomass, biogas, geothermal) and the diversity of the projects targeted - to which can be added the improvement of the energy performance of buildings.
This new show of commitment to a French region is fully in line with the EIB's priority climate action, in which it invested €1.4 billion in France in 2011. It is also indicative of the Bank's support for French local and regional authorities, the Bank says in a press release. (OL/transl.rt)