Stockholm (NordSIP) – Danmarks Grønne Investeringsfond (DGI, the Danish Green Investment Fund) spent €75 million on a total of 21 green projects in 2017, which together received a total investment of €157 million. The fund has already pledged an additional €63 million for a further 17 projects in 2018.
DGI is an independent state loan fund established to ensure co-financing for green innovations and projects that seeks to bridge the gap between traditional bank financing and equity capital. The common thread between chosen projects is their sustainable verifiability and scalability, promoting the green transition in Denmark across the sectors and technologies of environmental savings, renewable energy sources and resource efficiency. The fund has a maximum annual lending capacity of €268.5 million, with the option of raising this sum to €671 million.
Privately held companies, non-profit housing associations and public sector companies and institutions (with budgets separate from the state, regions and municipalities) can apply for loans from the fund. Individual loans have a maximum maturity of up to 30 years, with the fund generally able to finance up to 60 per cent of the total costs associated with any given project.
Among the 2017 recipients of loans were Better Energy, whose four solar parks are being built in Nees in western Denmark and which received €33.5 million combined. Solar roof specialist Ennogie also received funding. The fund also invested in companies involved with bioeconomy for the first time, thereby acquiring a new performance measure: the production of alternative protein. Funded projects are securing an estimated production of 310 tonnes annually.
“We boosted our lending activity [in 2017] and it went to projects representing a wide range of different aspects of the green transition, said DGI’s Chairman of the Board Jørgen Tang-Jensen. “We have now covered all the technology areas we are working with and we are very pleased to be able to see the positive green [impact] that we are contributing to.”
DGI’s projects contribute to a combined reduction of 300,557 tonnes of CO2 per annum, which corresponds to the annual CO2 consumption of 18,000 Danish citizens and 5,559 tonnes of recycled materials. The fund has helped to secure funding for green projects at a total of €421.5 million since its inception in 2014.
“2017 clearly demonstrates how the fund has [acted as] a lever for investments in green projects,” Tang Jensen added. “Our overall portfolio shows that we have contributed with 30 per cent of the funding in projects where we have cooperated with other capital providers. We want to make sure that even more green projects can secure the necessary funding to succeed.”
Image: (c) WDG Photo-shutterstock.com
