IQ Energy – the launch of a new financing facility for Ukraine
Location
Ukraine
Investment
Residential energy efficiency and renewable energy
Investment Size
EUR 75 million credit line facility
Impact
To reduce energy consumption in the residential sector
Donor
E5P, SIDA
The 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 with one of the largest housing stocks in Europe of over 10 million buildings. IQ energy will be implemented through participating 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 other measures.
IQ energy is supported by grant funding to offer financial incentives 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 advisory package funding for programme implementation, provided by E5P and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).
It is expected that potential clients will employ high energy performance technologies, resulting in higher energy efficiency of their homes (20 per cent of the current energy performance or more), leading to significant reduction of utility bills. Households and housing associations can choose among the pre-approved high performance technologies through the programme’s online Technology Selector. Individuals can make their grant applications online through the facility’s web site www.iqenergy.org.ua.
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.