Italy’s Iren Group receives €200m EIB credit line for grid resilience

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Iren Group have signed a €200 million ($214.8 million) financing agreement to support the development and modernisation of electricity infrastructure in the municipalities of Parma, Turin and Vercelli, Italy.

The main operations financed from the resources made available by the EIB concern the maintenance, renewal and development of existing power distribution facilities, the installation of new smart meters and the construction of underground electricity substations to better withstand extreme heatwaves.

The investments also aim to enhance the performance and resilience of the electricity grid to extreme climate change-related phenomena, promote the electrification of energy demand and the digitalisation of services.

The financing will take the form of an 18-year green-format credit line used to support the Group’s sustainable investments over 2023-2027 related to electricity grid resilience projects, totalling around €330 million (354.4 million).

Iren is north-western Italy’s leading multiutility in the electricity, gas, thermal energy for district heating, and energy efficiency sectors and the management of integrated, environmental and technological water services.

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Iren’s financed projects are aligned with the goals of the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan and REPowerEU’s goals to reduce energy consumption, for which the EIB has earmarked additional financing of €45 billion ($48.3 billion) by 2027.

According to Iren Group in a release, the deal with EIB will enable them to improve the capacity of the distribution network, increase its resilience, reliability and security of supply, as well as meet the renewal needs of existing assets and planned developments.

Commenting in a release was Luca Dal Fabbro, executive chairman of Iren: “The green format transaction, in addition to strengthening the financial structure of the Iren Group, demonstrates its strong commitment to sustainability.

“In line with the sustainable industrial strategy, the Iren Group, also thanks to this significant financing, will launch an important operation to build new electricity distribution networks in addition to the renewal and digitalisation of the existing ones in its historical realities such as Parma, Turin and Vercelli.”

Between 2019 and 2021, the EIB Group provided €45 billion ($48 billion) in financing for projects in Italy.