OREANDA-NEWS. The results of the Competition for the award for promoting sustainable development and responsible lending practiceswere summed up in the course of the Global Sustainable Finance Conference (the city of Karlsruhe, Germany). The Competition was organized by the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia & the Pacific (ADFIAP), the European Organization for Sustainable Development (EOSDD) and the World Federation of Development Financing Institutions (WFDFI). The organizers reviewed more 200 applications and selected 10 winners.

Vnesheconombank was among the winnersand was awarded an honorary diploma for funding a project on the reconstruction and construction of minor hydroelectric power plants in the Republic of Karelia. This project became a laureate in the nomination "The Best Project in Industry or Infrastructure Built on Sustainable Development Principles".

CJSC Nord Hydro is responsible for constructing and reconstructing 108 minor hydroelectric power plants (MHPP) on the territory of the Russian Federation in several stages.

Vnesheconombank is funding the first stage of the project that provides for constructing eight MHPPs in Karelia. The project's total value is 29.5 billion rubles. Under the credit agreement concluded in late 2011, VEB provided CJSC Nord Hydro with a credit line with a drawdown limit of 1.6 billion rubles for a period of up to the end of 2016. As of today, they completed the construction of two MHPPs "Lyaskelya" and "Ryumyakoski". At present, the third MHPP "Kalliokoski" is being built. It is to be launched in late 2014. Other hydroelectric power plants are at a design stage.

Vnesheconombank intends to go on participating in funding projects in renewable sources of energy. These projects' implementation is in line with objectives stipulated in the Strategy of Energy Development of the Russian Federation in so far as it relates to decentralized supply of energy-deficient regions, enhancing electricity supply reliability, developing and increasing the proportion of clean renewable energy sources in the energy balance.

Under Vnesheconombank's Memorandum on Financial Policies the Bank's main lines of investment activity include increased efficiency of utilizing natural resources, environmental protection and increased energy efficiency.

CJSC Nord Hydro was established in 2007 to implement projects of minor hydroelectric generation (up t0 25Mwatt). The company owns 4functioning minor hydroelectric power plants. Until the year 2020, the company plans to reconstruct and construct about 120 hydroelectric power plants with a total capacity of 130Mwattand with an electric power output of up to 900 million kWh per year.