EIB to provide advisory support to two advanced biorefinery projects
Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has recently
signed three agreements with leading European innovators to collaborate on the
development and potential financing of new projects that address climate change
by developing first-of-a-kind demonstration plants. Two of them are advanced biorefinery projects.
Press release: “EIB to provide advisory support to three first-of-a-kind climate action
projects”, 3/7/2020.
Figure 1. EIB to provide advisory support to
two advanced biorefinery projects
Under a partnership with the European
Commission delivered through the InnovFin Advisory programme, the EIB will
provide strategic financial advice and support to:
- RenFuel Lignolproduktion AB: A
production plant for lignin oil (LIGNOL®) from lignin in black liquor from the
pulp industry in Sweden. RenFuel’s plant plans to extract 70,000 tons of
lignin, which will result in an annual production capacity of approximately 185,000
tons of LIGNOL®.
Related posts:
- “Preem,
RenFuel and Rottneros assess the construction of the world's first lignin plant
for biofuels”, 29/5/2018.
- Bioforever: A demonstration-scale
wood-to-ethanol biorefinery in the Netherlands. With a processing capacity of
35,000 tons of wood waste, it will produce 8,000 tons of ethanol per year.
Related posts:
- “Alkol Biotech and BRD sign LOI for
non-woody lignocellulosic biomass sourcing for BIOFOREVER biorefinery”, 13/1/2018.
The promoters and the EIB, through InnovFin
Advisory (a programme supported by the European Commission to advise
companies on how to structure their projects in order to improve their access
to finance) will work on bringing the projects to maturity. The EIB will
provide extensive knowledge sharing to each promoter and help them navigate the
financing schemes that exist within and beyond the EIB, in order to bring these
types of project to life. The Bank offers numerous options for companies
looking for funding, such as corporate loans, project finance or venture debt.
This Project Development Assistance (PDA) is
available to project promoters to increase the investment readiness of projects
in innovative renewable energy, carbon capture and storage (CCS), smart energy
systems and storage. The funding for the PDA originates from the NER 300
programme, which was set up by pooling together around 2,000 M€ of overall
support for innovative low-carbon technology, focusing on the demonstration of
environmentally safe CCS and innovative renewable energy technologies on a
commercial scale within the EU.
Future similar innovative climate action projects
will also have the opportunity of PDA support, which will combine financial
advice with technical and operational support at relevant points in the cycle,
under the upcoming Innovation Fund. The next PDA will be available from 2021
onward.
