Scale up / Finance

The SLLEI is currently utilizing grant funds from the Austrian Development Agency and own resources from its consortium members, with support in kind from the pilot sites.

In order to bring the bankable biomass plantations (SRPs), which generate a positive cash flow by years 5-6 and through year 20+, to scale, the SLLEI expects to attract financing from a variety of sources, including:

  1. Government and donor grants and in-kind contributions
  2. Own resources from local farmers and farming cooperatives and state and municipal entities
  3. Commercial and (potentially) concessional loans sourced from International Financial Institutions and Impact investors

For the latter, it is foreseen that farmers and cooperatives may access loans from local commercial banks, which are themselves supported by IFIs and Impact investors. Such loans could be supported by various grant and guarantee schemes to mitigate perceived upfront risks.

Most important to ensuring a sufficient return on investment (equity or debt financing) will be to arrange off-take arrangements with creditworthy biomass users. This could include power companies (such as EPS), district heating companies, or pellet producers for domestic or international use.