Energy Efficiency Facility for Industrial Enterprises

closed

The objective of the Energy Efficiency for Industrial Enterprises Project for Government of Uzbekistan (GoF) is to improve energy efficiency in Industrial Enterprises (IEs) by designing and establishing a financing mechanism for energy saving investments. There are two components to the project. The first component of the project is development of energy efficiency (EE) capacity. This component has several broad objectives: (a) to assist the Ministry of Economy (MoE), which is responsible for EE in Uzbekistan, in developing an EE strategy for IEs that will enable the GoU to systematically and effectively scale-up and extend this operation in the next phase; (b) to address the lack of knowledge, experience and expertise in identifying, preparing and implementing EE projects in the industrial sector through targeted training; (c) to develop an EE communication strategy for the industrial sector; and (d) to create and maintain the Project Coordination Unit (PCU) under MoE to coordinate the implementation of the Uzbekistan Energy Efficiency Facility for Industrial Enterprises (UZEEF) Project. The second component of the project is credit line to participating Banks. The Asaka, Uzpromstroy, and Hamkor Banks will sign sub-credit agreements with an allocation of US$8 million to on-lend to IEs to carry out EE investments. During implementation, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) will reserve the right to reallocate these amounts, subject to approval by the World Bank, depending on the actual disbursement progress and demonstrated project pipeline of each Participating Bank (PB). In addition, PBs will co-finance project activities; they will follow their existing loan approval processes for IEs, which were reviewed by the World Bank team and considered adequate to verify and monitor long-term investments by IEs. The PBs is responsible for ensuring that sub-loan applications and approvals under the project meet all Uzbek and World Bank requirements.