EIB to provide £1.4 billion loan for wind projects

Renewable energy production will get a boost as small independent wind energy project developers in the UK can now avail of the needed funds from the loan being offered by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and other commercial banks.

The wind industry was badly affected under the global economic crisis, where energy developers had experienced difficulty in raising funds as banks had lessened project financing and credit lines for small wind farms.

Three UK-based financial institutions will start to offer loans to qualified onshore wind energy projects and developers. The lending scheme is supported by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, and the UK Treasury.

EIB will provide about 700 million of funds with loan terms of up to 15 years. The remaining money will be provided by BNP Paribas Fortis, Lloyds Banking Group and RBS. Totalling £1.4 billion, the loan will be available over the next 3 years for wind energy projects that cost below £100 million.

The UK has now 4GW of wind energy capacity. It took about 14 years to build the country’s first gigawatt and just one year to build the last. Ed Miliband, Secretary of Energy and Climate Change, said that the country needs a six-fold boost in renewables to hit its target by 2020. He further informed that the UK targets to cut 2050’s emissions by 80 per cent.

In the previous five years, the EIB had lent more than £13 billion for UK-based energy projects, including over £3 billion investments last year to help regional development, promote clean and secure energy sources, protect the environment, and support transport development.