Poland. Energa SA

The 12-year-maturity loan totalling PLN 200 million (EUR 50 million) has been provided for financing the modernisation and construction of low- and medium-voltage electricity networks.

The investment programme includes the construction and refurbishment of 1,861 kilometres of medium-voltage network lines and 4,294 kilometres of low-voltage network lines as well as the construction and refurbishment of 3,352 substations. It will also include a component of high-voltage lines aimed at connecting renewable energy sources, primarily wind farms. It has been estimated that the investment programme will help reduce network losses by 204,000 MWh by 2011.

Energa Group is one of the four vertically integrated energy groups operating in Poland. Energa operates in the central and northern part of the country, servicing 2.8 million customers, including over 200,000 corporate and institutional customers.

Although the project will have typical construction-related impacts, such as increased dust, noise and waste generation, these impacts are expected to be temporary and moderate. It is considered that the impacts of the project will be local and mainly reversible. The project includes only one investment associated with construction of new 110 kV line.

The implementation of the project is expected to lead to the reduction of network losses. An increased expenditure will be spent on metering systems and intelligent networks. It is estimated that implementation of the Advanced Metering Management programme will further reduce the losses.

Energa has not implemented a formal management system for environmental, health- and safety-related issues but have established an internal procedure for assessing the environmental impact of its investments.