“We don´t lack money, we lack good projects to lend money to”, “future investments will be extreme transparent” and “keep on working with the Celsius network to make sure that knowledge and expertise is accessible” were some important messages in the Celsius talk May, with focus om financial instruments.
The Celsius Talk May speakers together represent an amazing competence within an issue that needs to be solved for a successful energy transition: financial investment.
Moderated by Magnus Andersson, financial expert at the Celsius partner IMCG, the webinar gave a European multiple perspective on financial investment, from EU’s Urban Agenda Energy Transition Partnership to success cases and transparent green bonds to minimize the risks. Watch the full webinar at our Youtube-channel!
Common language
One of the speakers, Kristina Lygnerud of Halmstad University and Swedish Environmental Institute, pointed out three main issues to address to make the investments happen, namely, to make investors finding the “ultra-green” DHC-projects which they tend to miss, the value of being green and to break the language barrier between industry and bankers.
“The bankers are not aware of the industry and therefor they put risk premia on top of risk premia, when there should really not be one”, she said.
Standardisations
Standardisation for project assessment is crucial for green investments.
“It is needed to make it safe and easy for both investors and projects. The risks are reduced and projects don´t have to invent the wheel every time they need investment”, Magnus Andersson says.
A main recommendation on that topic, from Rolf Bastiaanssen, Bax & Company, was that broader standardisation of project assessment methods would increase market readiness of projects and reduce due diligence cost. He also added that there is lots of experience across Europe and across different organisations and institutions that seems still very fragmented and that all participants should keep on working with the Celsius network to make sure that knowledge and expertise is accessible for all future developers of district heating networks.
Green bonds
The City of Gothenburg is in the forefront of using green bonds to finance their projects. This means sometimes hard work keeping track of what the money has been used for, but is in the end very rewarding, since the city is able to prove the impact that the investment has created. “But you can’t do green bonds for single projects, you need to be a green city with an overall green ambition, otherwise there will be a reputational risk in it”, Fredrik Block, portfolio manager for the City of Gothenburg, says.
Success case
In Islington, London, they just recently scaled up their demonstration of Bunhill 2 Energy Centre where the subway is providing heat to 100 private homes, 600 council homes and a school, with 15 more cases to come. This inspiring project was presented by Rodrigo Matabuena, energy Capital Projects Manager at Islington Council.
UAETP
The speakers of the webinar also participate in the upcoming report on financial instruments for The Urban Agenda – Energy Transition Partnership for the EU. Simon Wyke, Greater London Authority, lead actor in the work of the UAETP, pointed out that it is important to look at the district energy networks not only their role in providing heat to buildings but their role in providing flexibility and balance to the wider energy system.
See the presentation below:
