EIB supports investments to upgrade Slovakia’s energy infrastructure

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is lending EUR 60m to SPP-distribúcia, a.s., the main gas distribution company in Slovakia, to finance the upgrading of its existing gas distribution network. The project mainly involves the replacement and refurbishment of old metal pipelines and surface infrastructure to increase network safety and improve service reliability.

This operation continues the successful cooperation between the EU bank and SPP‑distribúcia. Two previous EIB loans totaling EUR 135m financed SPP environmental and safety investments and upgrading measures on the company’s gas network.

The EIB is providing a EUR 17m loan to the GreenWay Group, Slovakia’s leader in electric vehicle charging stations and services. This is the Bank’s first operation in Central and Eastern Europe supported by “InnovFin – EU Finance for Innovators’ Energy Demonstration Projects”, with the financial backing of the European Union under Horizon 2020’s financial instruments. The EIB funds will allow GreenWay to expand its network of charging stations for electric vehicles on a large scale across Central and Eastern Europe. This will contribute to accelerating the transition towards lower carbon transport vehicles in the European Union.

EIB Vice-President Vazil Hudák commented: “The upgrading of energy infrastructure, be it in the form of improving the quality of the gas distribution network or increasing the availability of charging stations for electric vehicles, is important for strengthening Slovakia’s competitiveness and improving the environment. The support for this innovative energy investment fits in particularly well with the objectives of the Slovak Battery Alliance, which we recently established with the European Commission and the Slovak Government”. 

Original source: EIB
Published on 22 October 2018