OREANDA-NEWS. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is continuing to promote energy efficiency in Moldova with a new  EUR 3 million loan to Mobiasbanca - Groupe Societe Generale for on-lending to private companies undertaking energy-saving measures and investing in renewable energy projects.

The EBRD financing will be used to help businesses invest in energy-efficient equipment, for example, to replace old production and heating equipment, rehabilitate and replace boilers, install meters and renovate thermal and electric energy distribution systems. It also aims to finance small-scale renewable energy projects such as solar water heating systems, solar panel electricity systems, ventilation and conditioning systems, thermal insulation, gas boilers and biomass and biogas installations.

More than 90 per cent dependent on energy imports, Moldova spends more than 30 per cent of its import budget on energy. Such a high level of energy dependency, coupled with the waste of resources at the end-user level and obsolete energy infrastructure, makes Moldova one of the most energy-intensive countries in the region. On average, Moldovan companies use three times more energy to produce the same output as companies in the European Union.

A subsidiary of Groupe Societe Generale SA, Mobiasbanca is Moldova’s sixth-largest commercial bank, serving over 87,000 active clients in corporate, SME and retail sectors through a network of 46 branches. It is the most recent bank to join the EBRD partner banks financing sustainable energy projects in the country – a list that includes: Moldova-Agroindbank, Moldincondbank, Banca Comerciala Romana Chisinau and ProCreditBank.

The EBRD financing is extended to its partner banks within a dedicated framework – the Moldovan Sustainable Energy Financing Facility (MoSEFF II), which provides EUR 22 million in loans for financing energy efficiency improvements in the private sector.

The EBRD, one of the largest investors in Moldova, has to date signed over 90 investment projects in the country, covering energy, transport, agribusiness, general industry and banking sectors, for a cumulative amount of over EUR 700 million.