Study tour & workshop “Sustainable Energy Financing” - Austria

Objective

The overall objectives of the study tour and workshop were to contribute to improving the EE/RES  investment climate and increasing capitalisation of the EE/RES sector in the PCs. Specific objectives were to equip participants with improved knowledge and skills for making better EE/RES investment decisions; to transfer to participants best practices and efficient use of EE/RES financing conditions, techniques and methodologies, including risk management, security activities and monitoring steps; to improve the capacity of participants to develop and carry out effective and profitable operations with EE/RES project development and implementation; and to promote effective approaches and systems for EE/RES financing, including study of completed loan deals and investment projects, as well as demonstration of working plants constructed through SE financing tools, and projects implemented within the scope of EE/RES financing.

An important part of this combo event was live presentation of success stories of projects developed and implemented by EE/RES financing.

During the study tour portion, attendees (bankers) saw other bankers and private investors and visited renewable energy information centres. During the workshop portion, representatives of the Austrian Energy Agency/Denkstatt GmbH presented their experiences and success stories in EE/RES financing over the last 20-30 years. Attendees saw the bank's customers, i.e., borrowers who had implemented successful projects and regard their bank as a partner to trust. During this study tour/workshop participants attended lectures by people who went through the SE transition 25 years ago.  They showed PCs how to make the transition to a sustainable energy economy. Lectures and demonstrations showed how SE finance is currently conducted. Also, there was group work on workshop exercises on bankability assessment and indicator calculation, in EE and RES, plus workshop exercises on financing projects/conditions, also in EE and RES.  Finally there was a short preliminary exam and a final quiz.

The event brought together local financial institutions’ investment and loan officers, risk managers, investors, EE/RES investment/lending policy makers, and regulators from PCs to demonstrate the Austrian ЕЕ/RES business framework.  It is one of the best in the world and deserving of consideration. Participants discovered and analysed possible paths to success in this area for each PC.

Participants had the opportunity to network with each other. INOGATE participants took a guided tour of a bank that has EE/RES lending experience and loan portfolio, good experience in EE/RES loan portfolio and risk management, and good experience in using EE/RES lending tools and conditions or normative development.

Participants also took guided tours of two EE/ RE facilities, constructed with EE/RES financing. The main idea was to visit facilities developed using special financing, presented by the bank during the workshop.

The participants increased their awareness of best practices in the area of EE/RES financing; improved skills in EE/RES loan portfolio formation and  management, including methods of loan portfolio summarized risk reduction; improved their skills in calculation of main financial indicators of EE/RES loan portfolios and portfolio profitability maximization methods; improved their capacity to develop and implement EE/RES projects through the use of new financial tools and investment schemes and to develop and use advanced risk management principals and monitoring systems for EE/RES projects; increased the awareness of participating bank policy and decision makers (department heads or senior credit officers), so they are better prepared to develop normative frameworks for EE/RES project financing; and established an EE/RES lending professional network where participants can communicate with colleagues in the future, including participation in regional EE/RES project financing.