EIB funds energy projects
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has provided 310 million euros for energy security and efficiency in Greece and Cyprus as part of plans to pump more money into sectors hit by the economic slowdown, it said yesterday. EIB, the European Union’s investment agency, provided 280 million euros to Greece’s Public Power Corporation (PPC) for a new natural gas-fired plant in Aliveri, central Greece, and an upgrade to PPC’s transmission and distribution network. An additional 30 million euros goes to the Electricity Authority of Cyprus for a new power plant in the Larnaca district. «Funding for energy, security and efficiency in Greece and Cyprus is fully in line with… conclusions of Ecofin, calling for additional EIB finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), infrastructure and key sectors,» said Ploutarchos Sakellaris, EIB’s vice president. In 2007, EIB provided 800 million euros to the transport sector, SMEs and local authorities in Greece while lending to Cyprus reached 120 million euros.
