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World Bank approves $125-million loan for Belarus’ energy efficiency project

The Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank has approved a $125-million loan to Belarus to support a $193.10-million project aimed at improving the energy efficiency of heat and power generation in selected towns.

In recent years, Belarus has made significant efforts to reduce energy intensity and improve efficiency, the WB said in a statement.

“This is the largest loan we have made to Belarus to date,” Martin Raiser, country director for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, was quoted as saying. “We support the Belarusian authorities in their efforts to increase energy security, reduce carbon emissions, and lay the foundation for competitiveness and growth through improved energy efficiency.”

The project’s main objective is the conversion of six heat-only-boiler plants to combined heat and power plants in different localities across Belarus. Modern combined cycle gas turbines and gas engines that will give an additional 90 MW of electrical capacity will be installed. The efficiency of heat and power generation at the project sites is expected to increase by about 30 percent. It is estimated that about 90 million cubic meters of natural gas will be saved annually, which would lead to the annual reduction of about 165,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

The project will be carried out by the Belinvestenerhazberazhenne state enterprise reporting to the Energy Efficiency Department under the State Standardization Committee, the agency responsible for the national energy efficiency program.

“Following two demand side energy efficiency projects – the Social Infrastructure Retrofitting Project and the Post Chernobyl Recovery Project - supported by the World Bank’s loans, the Energy Efficiency Project will help Belarus improving energy efficiency on the supply side of power and heat generation,” said Pekka Salminen, the WB’s task team leader for the project.

The World Bank loan has a maturity of 16 years including a six-year grace period.

The project will start in 2009 and will take five years.

Belarus joined the World Bank in 1992. Since then, commitments to the country have totaled $443 million for eight operations. //BelaPAN