EIB funds fast-charging network and H2 gas stations in Greece & Spain
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted two loans for the development of charging stations and hydrogen filling stations in Greece and Spain. The total amount involved is 80 million euros.
A sum of €40 million will go to the Greek oil company Motor Oil over a period of ten years, which plans to build 3,000 charging stations and an unspecified number of hydrogen filling stations throughout Greece. The loan also includes the entire infrastructure for the hydrogen business, including an electrolyser for hydrogen production, hydrogen trailers, a feed-in terminal for loading the trailers and the hydrogen filling stations themselves.
There are no details yet on the approximately 3,000 charging stations that Motor Oil Hellas plans to build in Greece. The company has set itself the goal of becoming the largest producer of renewable energy in Greece.
“The Zero Emissions Vehicle market, including electric and hydrogen vehicles, is at a very early stage of development in Greece and through the financing of this innovative project, which features sustainability and environmental characteristics, the EIB will support the transformation of the road transport in the direction of hydrogen and electric mobility and increased sustainability, while also providing a signal to stimulate further funding from commercial banks on similar projects,” says Ioannis Kaltsas, head of the EIB’s lending team for Greece and Cyprus.
The EIB is lending a further EUR 40 million to the Spanish charging infrastructure company Zunder. The company reportedly wants to build more than 4,000 ultra-fast charging points in southern Europe by 2025.
According to the EIB, “49% of the project investment will be located on the Trans-European Network for Transport (TEN-T)”. So no inner-city HPC installations will be financed, the focus is on long-distance transport. The loan is intended to accelerate Zunder’s plans and increase the number of projects it can undertake as part of its expansion plan.
EIB Vice-President Ricardo Mourinho Félix stressed: “We are pleased to be joining forces with Zunder in a project that promotes electric mobility in Spain. Investing in infrastructure that facilitates electromobility will open the way for electric vehicles and help to decarbonise transport, one of the sectors with the highest greenhouse gas emissions.”
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