EBRD and Sostanj Unit 6 – serious questions about EBRD project appraisal
Publication | 15 May, 2011In 2010, the EBRD approved a EUR 100 million loan for the Sostanj lignite power plant unit 6 (TES 6) project with a further EUR 100 million syndicated to commercial banks. A recent report on the management of the project has important implications for the EBRD’s involvement and raises questions about the project appraisal process that led the EBRD to approve the project.
Read moreAre safety upgrades and lifetime extensions synonyms in the Ukrainian nuclear sector?
Publication | 15 May, 2011In November 2010 the EBRD, together with the European Union, announced its involvement in the EUR 1.2 billion Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) safety upgrade project for Ukraine. While safety upgrades at first appear a positive initiative, this project makes sense only in the context of NPP lifetime extensions, otherwise there is no reason to finance costly upgrades for facilities that will anyway close in a couple of years. And though the project promoter clearly links these safety upgrades with lifetime extensions, the EBRD is reticent to do so.
Read moreUkrainian transmission lines – a vehicle for dirty electricity to the EU
Publication | 15 May, 2011The EBRD is and has been involved in a number of high voltage electricity transmission lines in Ukraine that eventually would lay the technical groundwork to export nuclear and coal-based electricity to the EU. In the Ukrainian electricity transmission field, the EBRD should focus its efforts on utilising the massive potential to increase the reliability and efficiency of Ukraine’s energy system through the modernisation of existing grid, especially low-voltage local grid below 110kV where power losses now are two times higher than average in the EU.
Read moreVlora Thermo Power Plant, Albania – where is the electricity?
Publication | 15 May, 2011The oil and gas-fired thermo-power plant in Vlora, Albania – in a tourism-dependent city and only 100 metres from the protected Narta lagoon – was financed by the EBRD, the European Investment Bank and the World Bank. After a slew of problems, including lack of proper public consultation, the plant is not actually working – two years after it was supposed to have been completed – and it is increasingly doubtful whether it will start to produce electricity any time soon.
Read moreSlovenian government drops support for Sostanj coal plant; European public banks must follow suit
Press release | 5 May, 2011Ljubljana, Slovenia — CEE Bankwatch Network and Slovene NGO FOCUS are calling on the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to review their plans to provide 650 million euros in loans for the controversial 600 MW TES 6 block at Slovenian lignite plant Sostanj.
Read moreThe sun ain’t shining over Khimki Forest
Blog entry | 4 May, 2011The Khimki Forest in Russia might see its end signed and sealed this month. But Russian activists have continued their actions to defend Khimki forest also today by carrying out a citizens’ inspection to prevent the still illegal felling of trees.
Read moreLetter: EBRD and EIB should review involvement in Sostanj due to serious shortcomings in the project’s management
Publication | 4 May, 2011On April 14 2011 the Minister of Economy of Slovenia, presented a report on the management of the Sostanj TES 6 project to the Government of Slovenia. In the report many shortcomings of the project are highlighted, which led the Government to state that it will only support a state guarantee for the EIB loan amounting to EUR 440 million if the economic efficiency of the project can be improved.
Read moreVinci concession exposed as cover for oligarchs and tax havens in Russia’s first road PPP
Press release | 30 April, 2011An opaque web of offshore companies and oligarchs behind the controversial Moscow–St. Petersburg motorway public-private partnership provides new grounds for the Russian government to re-examine the project, according to new research by CEE Bankwatch Network and the Movement to Defend Khimki Forest, published today.
Read moreVinci – a cover for oligarchs and tax havens in Russia’s first road PPP
Publication | 30 April, 2011An opaque web of offshore companies and oligarchs behind the controversial EUR 1.5 billion first section of the Moscow–St. Petersburg motorway public-private partnership provides new grounds for the Russian government to re-examine the controversial project, according to this new research by CEE Bankwatch Network and the Movement to Defend Khimki Forest.
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20,000 backing Khimki activists calling on Vinci to end involvement in Moscow – St. Petersburg motorway
Blog entry | 28 April, 2011More than 20,000 people have signed a petition to demand Vinci’s withdrawal from the construction of a highway section through the Khimki Forest in Russia.
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