MSME Finance Facility Energy Efficiency (SMEFF-EE) Technical Assistance

On behalf of the European Union (EU) and in collaboration with the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB), KfW Bankengruppe provided a dedicated credit line of EUR 35 million and a technical assistance facility to Raiffeisenbank (RB) to stimulate energy efficiency (EE) investments in micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).   Econoler was mandated to support the implementation of the dedicated credit line by assisting RB and MSMEs in developing projects for which MSMEs intended to take a loan.

To fulfill this assignment, Econoler carried out the following activities:

• Identified potential clients interested in investing in EE measures;
• Identified EE projects;
• Conducted feasibility studies to develop bankable projects;
• Developed a software solution for RB internal use to enable EE analyses;
• Developed an Operations Manual to enhance the implementation of the credit line, including a comprehensive list of eligible measures and equipment, as well as a suite of Excel-based tools to assess eligible projects;
• Offered training to RB staff to develop sustainable capacity for financing EE projects.

  By the completion of the project, Econoler had identified and reviewed over 300 project submissions and issued 259 positive project assessments of which 231 were successfully implemented and verified, broken down by sector as follows:

• 116 projects in the transport sector (with a cumulative investment value of EUR 19.6 million);
• 82 projects in the agricultural sector (with a cumulative investment value of EUR 9.4 million);
• 20 projects in the services sector (with a cumulative investment value of EUR 2.5 million);
• 13 projects in the manufacturing sector (with a cumulative investment value of EUR 0.5 million).

  The overall environmental impact of the credit line was estimated at 29,950 MWh in annual energy savings and 7,944 tonnes in annual CO2 emissions reductions.