The European Investment Bank (EIB) has agreed to provide a loan of €300m to Dutch electricity network company Alliander in expanding its electricity infrastructure in the Netherlands.
EIB loan will be used to finance parts of renewal and expansion of the distribution network used by Alliander’s subsidiary Liander to supply power to customers.
The investment is expected to help in making the Liander's electricity distribution as the network future-proof. The investment programme is expected to be completed by the end of next year.
Liander will use the loan to upgrade its services, in the regions that it operates which include the Provinces of Gelderland and North Holland, large parts of the Provinces of Friesland and Flevoland and part of the Province of South Holland.
European Investment Bank vice-president Pim van Ballekom "Network operators play an important role in the transition to a sustainable energy supply in the future, this will require substantial investments. The EIB is very pleased to be able to contribute to this through this loan.
"Alliander is a new client for the Bank. Every day Alliander serves more than three million customers in the Netherlands, meaning it plays an important role in society; that is an important consideration for the Bank whether to award a loan."
Alliander chief financial officer Mark van Lieshout said: "With this loan the EIB contributes to the diversification of our funding sources, and will be financing part of our investments over the coming years.
“These investments are necessary to enable the transition to a sustainable energy supply and ensure that the energy supply in the future will remain affordable, reliable and accessible."
In June this year, EIB also agreed to provide a loan of €500m to Spanish electric utility company Iberdrola to modernise its electricity infrastructure in the country.
Iberdrola, back then stated that the loan will help in realising its STAR Project (Grid Remote Management and Automation System), an initiative that complements the legal obligation to change meters for those less than or equal to 15 kilowatts.
Iberdrola stated that the total cost of the grid modernisation project is €2bn.
Image: EIB to support Alliander with €300m to upgrade electricity network infrastructure in the Netherlands. Photo: Courtesy of a454/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.