KIROVOHRAD, UKRAINE — I&U Group is building a 6-megawatt biogas plant in the Kirovograd region of central Ukraine that will produce power from harvest waste.

The project is being funded by a senior long-term loan of up to €15 million in part from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

The financing package will consist of a €13 million loan from the EBRD and a €2 million concessional loan from the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) designed to support renewable energy and technology aimed at reducing carbon intensity. This will be the first project supported under the Ukraine Agribusiness Waste Residues Window, funded by the CTF.

I&U Group is a vertically integrated agricultural holding engaged in crop farming and sugar production in Ukraine.

Currently, the facility produces about 90,000 tonnes of beet pulp from the processing of sugar beet that usually decomposes in fields.

This will be the first facility in Ukraine to use an innovative biogas production technology, which will reduce energy consumption. The remaining residues of the biogas process will be used as bio-fertilizers, partially replacing the use of chemical fertilizers. The project will result in a total reduction of 24,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.

The project will benefit from a US$ 534,800 incentive grant from the EBRD’s Finance and Technology Transfer Centre for Climate Change (FINTECC) program, funded by the Green Environment Facility and designed to transfer technology in the area of climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as a €22,150 grant from the European Union’s Neighbourhood Investment Facility. A significant part of the legal due diligence cost will be covered by grant funding from the Japan-EBRD Cooperation Fund (JECF).