EIB agrees to support EVN AG’s investments in Austria's wind farms

The project is expected to be completed by early 2025, and the €110 million loan to co-finance it is part of the EIB’s contribution to the REPowerEU plan.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has agreed to support EVN AG's investments in wind farms with an overall capacity of 103 MW, providing 72 650 Austrian households with green electricity. The project is expected to be completed by early 2025, and the €110 million loan to co-finance it is part of the EIB's contribution to the REPowerEU plan.

EVN AG is a leading energy and environmental services provider in Lower Austria. It draws upon hydropower, wind and solar energy sources to produce clean electricity through its subsidiary evn naturkraft Erzeugungsges.m.b.H. Its portfolio powers the equivalent of around 590 000 households and averts around 1.1 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year. This new investment programme will enable EVN to further increase its capacity in wind and solar energy.

The projects will contribute to the climate action goals of the Austrian government. Under its National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP), Austria aims to generate 100% of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2030. The investment loan will be EVN's fifth operation with the EIB and the first to qualify as a green loan.

The investment also contributes to the REPowerEU plan, which aims to eliminate the European Union's dependence on Russian gas and oil. The EIB is supporting the initiative by raising its clean energy lending to unprecedented volumes, with an additional €30 billion committed on top of its regular operations.

EIB Vice-President Thomas Östros, who is responsible for overseeing projects in Austria, said: "We are proud to invest into accelerating the greening of power generation in Austria. We will continue to support the development and rollout of renewable energy technologies. EVN's ambitious rollout programme is good news for the green energy transition, which is a top priority for the EIB as the EU climate bank."