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EBRD finances cogeneration facility at Alchevsk Steel Works
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is providing a $150
million loan to CJSC Ekoenergia, a special purpose company owned by the second
largest Ukrainian industrial group the Industrial Union of Donbass (ISD) and
Alchevsk Iron & Steel Works (AMK). Calyon Bank is underwriting the syndication
of a $50 million part of the loan.
The project will finance the construction of a 303MV cogeneration facility,
owned and operated by Ekoenergia, at AMK, which will use waste gases produced
by AMK and coke oven gases produced by Alchevsk Coke Works. The cogeneration
facility is expected to produce enough electricity each year to meet the
demands of a region like Poltava.
The facility will generate electricity by utilising waste gases from the
production process and therefore will significantly reduce the emissions of
greenhouse gases in Ukraine. According to the preliminary estimates this
investment in its first four years will reduce annual AMK carbon emissions by
6 million tonnes, which equals the annual emissions of a large European
industrial city, like Manchester.
The project will also set best international standards of environmental
management at the AMK facility and more generally, help improve the
environmental conditions and energy efficiency of Ukrainian manufacturing
facilities, helping to bring levels of atmosphere pollution close to those in
developed economies and within the EU standards.
Olivier Descamps, EBRD Business Group Director for southern and eastern
Europe, said the facility will be one the first of its kind in the FSU, and
its successful commissioning will have a strong demonstration effect on other
energy inefficient enterprises. By working with one of the highest profile
industrial groups in Ukraine, the successful financing and implementation of
the project will send a strong message to other companies, he added.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is the biggest financial
investor in Ukraine. As of 31 December 2006 it had committed €2.87 billion
through more then 130 projects.
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