GDANSK, June 23 (Reuters) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development plans to sign new investments worth more than €500 million ($571 million) in Ukraine’s critical sectors at a conference for the country’s recovery this week, EBRD Banking Vice President Matteo Patrone said.
• Patrone told Reuters the bank continued to focus on Ukraine’s energy sector.
• EBRD expects to sign a loan for a 189 MW wind power plant, developed by one of Ukraine’s largest filling stations Galnaftogaz, at a two-day conference in the Polish costal city of Gdansk.
• Another a loan for a 120 MW wind power plant operated by the German renewable energy company Notus Energy is expected to be signed.
• The bank plans to sign deals worth about €270 million of EBRD finance with seven Ukrainian banks.
• During more than four years of the war, Russia has pounded Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with missile and drone strikes, damaging generation and transmission facilities.
• Last winter, Russian attacks damaged more than half of Ukraine’s power generation capacity.
• The EBRD, one of the largest lenders to Ukraine, has deployed more than €10 billion in the country since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, including €3.5 billion in the energy sector.
• To boost renewable energy investment the EBRD, EU and the World Bank are setting up a mechanism to give price stability to independent power producers and energy generators, Patrone said.
• It should allow investment of up to 1.5 GW of renewable energy in Ukraine, he added.
($1 = 0.8750 euros)
(Reporting by Anna Pruchnicka in Gdansk; Editing by Jon Boyle)