The European Investment Bank has approved $1.72 billion for renewable generation and electricity networks. It is one of the largest single energy approvals the bank made that year. Read the list of what it covers, though, and only one borrower and one project come with a name and a number attached. The rest is a map of intentions spread from the Balkans to West Africa.
Key takeaways
- The European Investment Bank approved $1.72 billion in February 2024 for renewable energy generation and electricity distribution networks, as part of a wider $3.45 billion energy transition package.
- The wider $3.45 billion EIB package also allocates around $1 billion to transport investment and $565 million to corporate innovation and business investment.
- About $156 million of the EIB energy approval goes to JP Elektroprivreda HZHB to build a new 132 MW wind farm in Posusje, Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is roughly $1.18 million per MW.
- The EIB's $1.72 billion energy approval also covers a large renewable hydrogen plant in Portugal, electricity network investment in Spain, solar in Brazil, wind and solar in South Africa, and solar for farms, schools and health centres in West Africa.
- Enerdatics records 29 renewable and energy financings in 2024 where the EIB is the sole named sponsor, and the $1.72 billion approval is the largest of them, about 10.7 times the median.
What exactly did the EIB approve?
It approved a programme, not a single loan. Leap records the EIB's Board of Directors agreeing to back these investments. A board approval is agreement in principle to lend for a set of projects. The individual loan contracts follow separately, and each is announced in its own right.
That distinction explains the shape of the record. The $1.72 billion is the energy slice of a $3.45 billion package, and it is meant to scale up renewable generation and strengthen the distribution networks that carry renewable power to users. Grids matter here because more wind and solar on a network needs more capacity to move and balance it.
The rest of the package sits outside energy generation. Around $1 billion is earmarked for transport and $565 million for corporate innovation and business investment. The energy portion itself is described in terms of themes: wind in the Balkans, solar in Latin America and Africa, and clean energy innovation in Europe.
Early coverage quoted the approval in euros. Leap records it at $1.72 billion, and the figures in this post use Leap's values.
Why does only one borrower have a name and a number?
Because most of the projects are still at the approval stage, where the bank names a country or a sector rather than a counterparty. Leap lists the company on this record as JP Elektroprivreda HZHB plus "Undisclosed", and that captures the position well.
JP Elektroprivreda HZHB, a utility in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is the only borrower given an amount: about $156 million for a new 132 MW wind farm in Posusje. That is roughly 9 percent of the energy approval. At about $1.18 million per MW, it is a full construction loan for a mid-sized onshore wind farm rather than a token contribution.
Everything else is described by place and purpose. There is a large renewable hydrogen plant in Portugal to help decarbonise energy-intensive industry. There is network investment across Spain to accept more wind and solar, digitalise the grid and make the distribution system more resilient. There is solar financing in Brazil aimed at bringing down energy prices. There is backing for wind and solar in South Africa. And there is solar for agriculture, irrigation, water treatment, schools and health centres across West Africa, delivered with African financial partners.
The utility in Posusje is also a repeat EIB borrower. Two weeks after this approval, Leap records EIB Global providing about $39 million for the Vlasic wind farm in Bosnia and Herzegovina, to the same company. For JP Elektroprivreda HZHB, the bank is becoming a standing source of wind finance rather than a one-off lender.
How does the approval compare with the EIB's other 2024 deals?
It is the outlier at the top of the range. Most EIB energy loans in Leap are tied to a single borrower and often a single project, which keeps them in the tens or low hundreds of millions of dollars. A programme-level approval aggregates many of those into one headline number, which is why it sits so far above the rest.
Enerdatics records 46 financings announced in 2024 that involve the EIB in some way, from sole lending to a place in a large bank group. Narrow that to the 29 where the EIB is the only named sponsor, and the $1.72 billion approval is the largest. The next largest are about $1.28 billion for RWE's Thor offshore wind farm in Denmark and about $1.05 billion for Naturgy's solar and wind projects in Spain. The median of the 29 is about $160 million, so this approval is roughly 10.7 times a typical EIB-only energy financing that year.
The EIB also turns up in much larger deals as one lender among many. It sits in the lender groups behind H2 Green Steel's debt for its hydrogen-powered steel plant and Northvolt's $5 billion loan for its Swedish battery factory, and in the bank consortium for Enel's 3Sun solar panel factory. In those cases the headline amount belongs to the whole group, not to the EIB.
What does the deal signal for European energy finance?
It signals that the EIB is lending to the system around renewables as much as to the generators themselves. Grids in Spain, hydrogen in Portugal and wind in the Balkans sit in the same approval. Across 2024, Leap also records EIB loans to Iberdrola for smart grids in Spain and to Orlen for distribution infrastructure in Poland. The bank is treating networks as part of the renewable build-out, not a separate category.
It also signals how far the EIB's reach extends beyond the EU. A large share of the named themes sits in the Western Balkans, Latin America and Africa. The follow-on Vlasic loan was made by EIB Global, the bank's arm for lending outside the EU, and the spread of this approval shows how much of the pipeline sits there. The "European" in the bank's name describes the lender, not the map of the projects.
For deal teams, the lesson is to treat approval totals with care. A $1.72 billion approval is a ceiling for a pipeline, not cash in a project account. The amounts that matter for any one developer are the signed loans that follow, and those appear in Leap as separate records, such as the later Vlasic financing, when they are finalised.
Frequently asked questions
How much did the EIB approve for renewable energy in February 2024? Leap records $1.72 billion for renewable generation and electricity distribution networks, within a wider $3.45 billion energy transition package.
Which project received a named amount from the EIB approval? About $156 million goes to JP Elektroprivreda HZHB for a new 132 MW wind farm in Posusje, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Is an EIB approval the same as a signed loan? No. An approval is the bank's agreement in principle. Individual loan contracts follow separately, and Leap records them as their own financings when they are announced.
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