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Colombia issues first energy savings insurance policies
02/14/2019 Since 5 years

SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ACCESS TO POLICIES TO GUARANTEE ENERGY SAVING IN INVESTMENT PROJECTS FOR MORE EFFICIENT TECHNOLOGIES.

With the support of the Inter-American Development Bank, and in collaboration with BANCOLDEX , Colombia has become the first country in Latin America and the Caribbean to issue energy saving policies under the Energy Savings Insurance Program (ESI) in benefit of five small and medium-sized enterprises that have invested in energy efficiency and power generation projects.

One of these beneficiaries is the Neiva Plaza Hotel, in the department of Huila, whose project for replacing obsolete boilers with solar thermal heathers had an investment of 122 million Colombian pesos (around 40,000 USD) and is ensured by Más Centígrados SAS supplier.

Another investor is the Villa Martha Hotel, insured by supplier Energitel, which will install a photovoltaic project of 10kWp capacity in Turbaco, department of Bolívar, with an investment of 94 million pesos (30,000 USD).

Both projects are insured by SURA , one of the main insurers in Latin America, and they’re financed by Banco Davivienda of Colombia, through the Energy Saving Bancóldex Line for Hotels, Clinics and Hospitals , with resources from the IDB and the Climate Investment Funds (CIF).

Three other projects – financed with their own resources – have been insured by SURA with the energy efficiency and power generation policy: Supertiendas Arrieras in Pereira, in the Risaralda department (10kWp install capacity), a solar farm in Pereira city (9,723 MWh of annual generation) and a photovoltaic solar system in Bogota which is connected to the grid (11,292 kWh of monthly generation).

The ESI Program is a regional initiative developed by the IDB in cooperation with the Government of Denmark, through the Danish Energy Agency to promote investments in energy efficiency. The insurance covers the damages of not obtaining the estimated energy savings and is one of the Program’s tools to mitigate the investments’ risk, which boosts a greater number of companies to invest in more efficient technologies and improve their performance in terms of productivity and environmental care.

In the five mentioned cases, the ESI Program’s tools have been important to build confidence in the project’s robustness and to help the financial closure by guaranteeing energy savings.

The ESI Program is also being implemented with banks in Brazil (Goias, Fomento, BRDE, BANDES), Chile (Banco Estado), El Salvador (Bandesal), Nicaragua (BFP) and Peru (COFIDE).

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