The European Investment Bank and Prysmian have signed a new, €450m finance contract to facilitate electricity transmission and distribution in Europe, to meeting the growing demand for renewable energy, particularly offshore wind.
Prysmian will use the EIB funds to build new production lines for extra-high-voltage submarine cables, lines for high-voltage onshore cables and other technical improvements to existing lines.
The EIB-financed investment will enable Prysmian to double its production capacity for extruded cables at its three factories in Pikkala (Finland), Pozzuoli (Italy) and Gron (France) from around 2000km a year to over 4000km a year.
This will help to meet EU targets for clean energy transmission via submarine cable solutions and long-distance interconnections, improving the integration and efficiency of renewable energy.
According to Prysmian estimates and in line with time frames and procedures that are still being defined, this investment will also promote the creation of new jobs, thereby generating major economic benefits for the countries involved.
The project is fully in line with the EIB’s climate action and environmental sustainability goals and the REPowerEU framework, which the EU bank has committed to support with €45bn of additional investment by 2027.
In addition, almost half of the operations covered by the agreement will take place in cohesion regions such as Campania in Italy and Burgundy in France, thereby helping to address regional economic disparities and promoting more balanced and inclusive economic development.
This contract follows previous agreements between Prysmian and the EIB.
In the past, the EIB has backed Prysmian’s research and development across Europe, helping to support its production centres of excellence while promoting clean and renewable energy with interconnections between integrated renewable resource systems via cable solutions.
EIB vice president Gelsomina Vigliotti said: “The EIB is the EU climate bank, and this financing shows ourcommitment to backing clean energy transmission in Europe.
“This agreement with Prysmian will help achieve theREPowerEU objectives by mobilising vast resources to address the most pressing energy and environmental challenges.”
Prysmian chief executive Massimo Battaini added: “Prysmian is playing a key role in promoting the European energy transition.
“We are proud that the EIB is supporting our commitment to help build additional capacity to meet the growing demand for clean energy across the continent.
“The EIB shares our unwavering commitment to innovation in our products and services to promote efficiency, which is crucial both to making the energy transition more achievable and to implementing it more quickly.
“This new step forward shows how the European Union is aware of the essential role our company has in achieving this transition.”