Wednesday, November 23 2016 15:40

ArmInfo. Armenian Government  took an objective to decrease the consumption of primary energy for  38%,Hayk Harutyunyan, the Deputy Minister of Energetic Infrastructure  and Natural resources stated at the press conference  on November 23,  while presenting priorities and coming reforms of the field,  proceeding from the Government program. 

According to Deputy Minister, the Ministry has submitted for the  Government approval the "National Energy Saving Project," second  stage of which assumes certain arrangements for the period until  2018, and which objectives are more ambitious than at the first stage  - to reach t 38% decrease of primary energy consumption. This will  reduce not only the consumption of gas and electric power, but also  of diesel fuel, petrol, coal etc. I.e. everything that could be used  as a fuel," he clarified. As Harutyunyan mentioned, there are complex  arrangements set out, and all the state entities will take part in  the implementation of those. 

Earlier in his  interview to ArmInfo Hayk Harutyunyan stated that  within the framework of national project on energy saving the first  stage results were successful - the economy indications in the aspect  of energy savings grew twice to that expected, and the initial goal  was to decrease for 3,3 %. Based on this results two projects were  developed - until 2018 and 2020 respectively. According to Deputy  Minister, the project showed that the main guarantee for the  efficient policy in this field is the availability of  appropriate  financial tool. As Harutyunyan clarified, that might be seen on  example of a simple home appliance - for instance, if one buys a  freezer  having modern features, he could save up to 70-80% of  energy.  

Energocredit is a program of the European Bank for Reconstruction and  Development (EBRD) in the Caucasus region. Together with  participating local financial institutions, Energocredit finances  energy efficient and renewable energy projects of businesses and  individuals.  To note, EBRD (European Bank of Reconstruction and  Development) in 2007 Launched an Energo credit program for Caucasus  region.  

The Energocredit loan package offers additional benefits as a cash  back payment and free technical expert advice. The European Union  Neighborhood Investment Facility rewards the environmentally friendly  investments with 10% or 15% cash back of the loan amount, the expert  advice is provide by the Austrian Ministry of Finance.  The financing  for corporate loans is carried out with the help of partner banks and  financing institutions in Armenia, such as HSBC Armenia, Ameriabank,  ACBA Credit Agricole Bank, ACBA Leasing, Inecobank, SEF International  and ArmSwissBank.

Energocredit provides also residential loans to individuals to do  energy efficient housing renovation and to purchase energy saving  equipment for cutting energy costs of heating, air conditioning and  electricity use.  This investment helps the households to reduce  energy consumption to save both money and the environment.