By Neil Thomson
December 19, 2013
The European Investment Bank (EIB) continued its support of the continents shift to clean energy by investing €50 million into the second clean energy fund set up by Glennmont Partners. This is the single largest clean energy investment by the EIB in 2013.
Glennmont Partners is considered one of the largest infrastructure vehicles dedicated to clean energy across Europe. The EIB’s contribution will be invested into Glennmont’s second clean energy infrastructure fund which now has commitments of €250 million from both new and existing investors from its first fund.
The EIB’s strategy is to back only carefully selected, risk managed investments that aim to deliver sustained performance and predictable returns for investors. In recent years the EIB’s annual lending in clean energy has increased considerably reaching €3.3bn in 2012. In addition to lending, the EIB takes equity positions in projects and provides project finance and expertise to initiatives throughout Europe. The EIB review process is rigorous and includes considering financial, technical and social long-term performance.
Jonathan Taylor, European Investment Bank Vice President responsible for environment and climate lending said, “Glennmont has an established track record and proven readiness to support renewable energy projects across Europe. The European Investment Bank is pleased to back projects that tackle a changing climate.” He added “clean energy investment is a key focus for the EIB as it works to support the European Union’s stated policy objective to cut greenhouse-gas emissions across Europe by 20% over the next six years.”
In 2012 Germany, Italy and Spain generated more power from solar than the rest of the world combined, and by quite some margin. Installed capacity has grown aggressively since 2003. Canada suffers from a less conducive investment climate and lack of public sector support when compared to the market leaders. This subject is up for discussion on the third panel of the day at the Clean Capital conference on January 30, 2014, where experts from around the world will delve into the mechanics of the competition.
