The European Investment Bank (EIB) has provided a $213 million loan to Sicredi, a cooperative financial institution in Brazil, for solar energy initiatives. With the funding, Sicredi will finance the installation of solar photovoltaic panels in Brazilian rural properties, small and medium businesses, and private residences. This project will fully assist the country’s efforts to combat climate change and advance its plans to produce increasing amounts of renewable electricity.
EIB Global is the EIB Group’s specialised arm dedicated to increasing the impact of international partnerships and development finance. It is designed to foster strong, focused partnership within Team Europe, alongside fellow development finance institutions, and civil society. Since the EU bank started working there in 1997, it has provided over €5.4 billion to finance investments with favourable conditions — in terms of both maturity and interest rates — with the aim of improving the quality of life of Brazilians. Brazil represents around 40 per cent of the EIB’s portfolio in Latin America.
In February 2023, EIB formally agreed to join the India Hydrogen Alliance (IH2A) and increase its support for large-scale green hydrogen hubs and projects across India with indicative funding of €1 billion, subject to Indian government and EIB approvals. The alliance aims to bring industry, investors and government agencies together on green hydrogen hubs and projects.
REGlobal’s Views: As large grid-scale solar projects require significant time, many approvals, large tracts of land and transmission infrastructure, distributed solar projects are becoming popular across Brazil to provide clean, quality and affordable power to small businesses and even households. Such focused financing programs can greatly promote the uptake of distributed solar.
