Chisinau Premier Energy Distribution Upgrade

Overview
Project Summary Document
Environmental and Social Documentation
Procurement
Complaints

Overview

A secured senior loan of up to USD 30 million to ICS Premier Energy Distribution S.A. ("Premier Energy", the "Company") to finance the Company's 2022-2025 investment programme. The overall capex programme for the period of USD 60 million will be co-financed by a parallel loan from the European Investment Bank ("EIB") for an equal amount.

The transaction is presented under the EBRD Green Cities Framework stemming from Chisinau's Green City Action Plan (GCAP) that was completed and approved by the City Council in May 2020.

Project ID 53191

Status Disbursing

Location

Moldova

Business Sector

Energy

Notice Type

Private

Project timeline

Exploratory
Passed Concept Review
Passed Structure Review
Passed Final Review
Board Approved
Signed
Implementing
Completed

Company Contact Information

Jose Luis Gomez Pascual
jlgomezp@premierenergy.md
+ 373 68 88 84 60
https://www.premierenergydistribution.md
ICS Premier Energy Distribution S.A., 4 Andrei Doga Street, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova

Project ID 53191

Status Disbursing

Location

Moldova

Business Sector

Energy

Notice Type

Private

Environmental Category

Approval Date

15 Nov 2022

Disclosure date

13 Sep 2022

Project description

The transaction is presented under the EBRD Green Cities Framework stemming from Chisinau's Green City Action Plan (GCAP) that was completed and approved by the City Council in May 2020.

Project objectives

The objective is to support Premier Energy with its 2022-2025 investment programme focussed on the modernisation and upgrade of the electricity distribution grid. The programme aims to strengthen the network, increase energy efficiency, improve safety standards of the substations and modernise the telecommunication infrastructure.

Transition impact

ETI Score:70

Green Cities Framework 2 (GrCF2) represents a strategic and multi-project approach seeking to help identify and address environmental challenges in selected large cities in the EBRD Countries of Operations. The transaction will primarily help to promote the Green transition quality by addressing priority environmental challenges identified in Chisinau's GCAP. The transaction is expected to allow Premier Energy to improve robustness of the electricity grid in Chisinau and reduce losses which will lead to net CO2 savings. In addition, the transaction will support the Competitive quality as the focus of this investment is to upgrade the electricity distribution network and enhance the energy management (i.e. targeting performance improvement).

Client information

ICS PREMIER ENERGY DISTRIBUTION SA

Premier Energy is the largest and solely privately owned electricity distribution system operator in Moldova, maintaining and operating the distribution grid in the central and southern parts of the country including Chisinau with a total length of 35,642 km and providing connections to more than 820,000 consumers, resulting in domestic market share of c.70%. Premier Energy operates in a regulated market environment overseen by the National Energy Regulatory Agency (ANRE) under a revenue-cap model that compensates it for operating and maintenance costs and a regulated rate of return on the regulatory asset base.

Premier Energy is 93% owned by Czech private equity firm Emma Capital Limited, a private limited liability company incorporated in Cyprus and ultimately controlled by a number of Czech individuals that has investments in energy, consumer finance and gaming. The minority stake (7%) is held by Soterios Capital Partners, wholly owned by the family of founder Boris Salas.

EBRD Finance Summary

USD 30,000,000.00

Total project cost

USD 60,000,000.00

Additionality

EBRD offers financing and structure not available from commercial sources. Furthermore, EBRD will require Premier Energy to comply with stringent environmental and social requirements to improve health and safety standards and reduce network-associated accidents among its employees and the general population.

Environmental & Social Summary

Categorised B (2019 ESP) and high-medium risk due to the nature and scale of the capex program (regional modernisation including upgrade of LV-MV facilities). The Bank's proceeds will not be used for high voltage power lines and A category lines. Key Environmental & Social (E&S) risks and impacts to consider include potential land acquisition and restriction of access, labour issues, client environmental and social capacity, ecological impacts for instance power lines impacting birds, management of contractors, occupational health and safety risks, and stakeholder engagement. The ongoing Bank's E&S Due Diligence (ESDD) is undertaken by an independent consultant. It includes a review of the Company's E&S organisation and performance including previous Annual Environmental and Social Reports through previous transactions, and an assessment of impacts and benefits of the proposed investment (including a site visit to selected assets to assess health and safety and labour conditions issues). The ESDD includes the development of a Non-Technical Summary (NTS) and an update ESAP for this Project to take account of ESP 2019. The Project is considered Paris aligned for climate mitigation as it features in the joint MDB "aligned list" and no further assessment is required. The Project is deemed not significantly exposed to physical climate risks and is considered Paris aligned for climate adaptation. This paragraph will be updated when the ESDD is completed.

Company Contact Information

Jose Luis Gomez Pascual
jlgomezp@premierenergy.md
+ 373 68 88 84 60
https://www.premierenergydistribution.md
ICS Premier Energy Distribution S.A., 4 Andrei Doga Street, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova

Implementation summary

PSD last updated

13 Sep 2022

Understanding transition

Further information regarding the EBRD’s approach to measuring transition impact is available here.

Business opportunities

For business opportunities or procurement, contact the client company.

For business opportunities with the EBRD (not related to procurement) contact:

Tel: +44 20 7338 7168
Email: projectenquiries@ebrd.com

For state-sector projects, visit EBRD Procurement:

Tel: +44 20 7338 6794
Email: procurement@ebrd.com

General enquiries

Specific enquiries can be made using the EBRD Enquiries form.

Environmental and Social Policy (ESP)

The ESP and its associated Environmental and Social Requirements (ESRs) set out the ways in which the EBRD implements its commitment to promoting “environmentally sound and sustainable development”. The ESP and the ESRs include specific provisions for clients to comply with the applicable requirements of national laws on public information and consultation, and to establish a grievance mechanism to receive and facilitate resolution of stakeholders’ concerns and grievances, in particular, about the environmental and social (E&S) performance of the client and the project. Proportionate to the nature and scale of a project’s environmental and social risks and impacts, the EBRD also requires its clients to disclose information, as appropriate, about the risks and impacts of projects or to undertake meaningful consultation with stakeholders and consider and respond to their feedback.

More information on the EBRD’s practices in this regard is set out in the ESP.

Integrity and compliance

The EBRD's Office of the Chief Compliance Officer (OCCO) promotes good governance and ensures that the highest standards of integrity are applied to all of the Bank's activities in accordance with international best practice. Integrity due diligence is conducted on all Bank clients to ensure that projects do not present unacceptable integrity or reputational risks to the Bank. The EBRD believes that identifying and resolving issues in the project assessment and approval stages is the most effective means of ensuring the integrity of Bank transactions. OCCO plays a key role in these protective efforts andhelps to monitor integrity risks in projects post-investment.

OCCO is further responsible for investigating allegations of fraud, corruption and misconduct in EBRD-financed projects. Anyone, either within or outside the Bank, who suspects fraud or corruption should submit a written report to the Chief Compliance Officer by email to compliance@ebrd.com. OCCO will follow-up all matters reported. It will review all matters reported. Reports can be made in any language of the Bank or of the Bank's countries of operation. The information provided must be made in good faith.

Access to Information Policy (AIP)

The AIP, which entered into force on 1 January 2025, sets out how the EBRD discloses information and consults with its stakeholders to promote better awareness and understanding of its strategies, policies and operations. Please visit the Access to Information Policy page to find out what information is available from the EBRD website.

Specific requests for information can be made using the EBRD enquiries form.

Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM)

If efforts to address environmental, social or public disclosure concerns with the Client or the Bank are unsuccessful (for example, through the client’s project-level grievance mechanism or through direct engagement with Bank management), individuals and organisations may seek to address their concerns through the EBRD’s Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM).

IPAM independently reviews project issues that are believed to have caused (or to be likely to cause) harm. The purpose of the mechanism is: to support dialogue between project stakeholders to resolve environmental, social and public disclosure issues; to determine whether the Bank has complied with its Environmental and Social Policy or the project-specific provisions of its Access to Information Policy; and where applicable, to address any existing non-compliance with these policies, while preventing future non-compliance by the Bank.

Please visit the Independent Project Accountability Mechanism webpage to find out more about IPAM and its mandate and how to submit a Request for review. Alternatively, contact IPAM by email at ipam@ebrd.com for guidance and more information on IPAM and how to submit a request.

Environmental and Social Documentation is not available for this project.

Selected procurement notices related to this project may be shown below. Further procurement opportunities related to this and other projects, if available, maybe be viewed in the EBRD Procurement Portal.

The EBRD's Environmental and Social Policy (ESP), Access to Information policy (AIP) and Project Accountability Policy (PAP) enable sound and sustainable development in its projects. The Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM) deals with complaints about environmental, social and disclosure matters related to the Bank’s investments.

No complaints about this project have been made so far.

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Chisinau Premier Energy Distribution Upgrade

Overview

Project timeline

Company Contact Information

Project description

Project objectives

Transition impact

Client information

EBRD Finance Summary

Total project cost

Additionality

Environmental & Social Summary

Company Contact Information

Implementation summary

PSD last updated

Understanding transition

Business opportunities

General enquiries

Environmental and Social Policy (ESP)

Integrity and compliance

Access to Information Policy (AIP)

Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM)