Winds of Change Here Comes The

NORDIC INVESTMENT BANK DECEMBERMAY 20082009 Winds of change Danish DONG Energy is building the world’s largest offshore wind turbine park Here comes the sun Solar silicon production takes off in Norway Financing environmental action NIB sharpens its focus CLEERE and BASE lending facilities in operationin non-member lending LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT LETTER FROM Focusing PHOTO: TUOMO MANNINEN In the last few years, the Nordic Invest- the Baltic Sea. The second is CLEERE agreements in place. Such wide geo- ment Bank (NIB) has focused its activi- (the Climate Change, Energy Efficiency graphical coverage has been useful to ties in different ways. This has been and Renewable Energy lending facility), many of NIB’s sponsors and it spreads deemed necessary in order to ensure which is using EUR 1 billion for the the risks in the Bank’s lending portfolio. that our limited human and financial financing of clean energy and energy At the same time, it also by necessity resources are used in the most efficient way. saving. The HELCOM process is taking reduces NIB’s ability to support its partners When revising its strategy in 2006, time to implement and many of the when and if problems emerge. Given its NIB looked for activities in which the environmental projects have long lead financial resources, NIB’s presence in relative strengths of the Bank could best times, so the first facility still has consid- most of the framework countries is very be employed. Hence, we identified erable unspent resources. CLEERE has thin, and NIB is only a marginal player. projects that require long-term financing, been met with high immediate demand, Given its limited human resources, which are cross-border in nature, and in and more than half of the allocated NIB cannot offer expertise in so many which there is a strong link between the resources were spent in the first 10 countries. Taken together, this limits the private and the public sectors. And, of months of its existence. possibility to cooperate with local course, these activities must be of high By better focusing its activities, authorities and it also makes it difficult priority in the member countries. the Bank can increase and utilise its to analyse and follow the development As a result, energy (including energy expertise when it comes to technical of risk. efficiency and clean energy), the envi- solutions and, in particular, when it By concentrating on a limited ronment, transport, logistics and com- comes to designing financial packages number of markets—those most important munications, as well as innovation were suited to the activities mentioned above. for the member countries—the Bank identified as focus sectors for the Bank. This capability has proved increasingly can increase its presence and relevance These are not new areas for NIB as such: important in times of stress in the finan- to the host countries. This enables more most of them have always featured heavily cial markets, when the supply of long- intensive cooperation with the countries in the Bank’s portfolio. This makes it term funding from many traditional and the respective authorities. It will also possible to build on existing experience sources has dried up, and the private make it possible for the Bank to further within NIB. financial sector has a reduced interest develop its expertise in different markets In order to increase our ability to be and ability to provide finance. and thereby deliver greater value to its proactive and to further enhance support In 2009, the Bank also decided to stakeholders. for these activities, two facilities were focus its activities geographically. The established in early 2008. The first is Bank has over the years developed April 2009 BASE (the Baltic Sea Environment framework agreements with many Johnny Åkerholm, President and CEO lending facility), which has allocated countries in different parts of the world. EUR 500 million for the cleaning up of There are currently almost 40 such 2 BULLETIN MAY 09 BULLETIN MAY 2009 4 Solar silicon production takes off in Norway Orkla-owned Elkem Solar AS has launched CONTENTS a metallurgical plant for smelting solar-grade silicon in Kristiansand 8 Steelmaker invests in clean technology Finnish rautaruukki is signifi cantly reducing its environmental impact 10 Loan improves household wastewater THE PRESIDENT LETTER FROM cleaning and insulation The Fredriksson family has received a NIB-fi nanced environmental loan from a local bank 12 Busiest road in Finland becomes a motorway after fi fty years The fi nal stretch of the Helsinki-Turku motorway opened in early 2009 14 High-speed trains cut distance and save nature Swedish railway operator SJ has ordered 20 new trains 16 NIB sharpens its focus in non-member countries Interview with Head of Lending Nils E. Emilsson 18 Loan structure offers benefi ts Interview with Head of Project and Structured Finance Joe Wright 20 Energy projects fi nanced in the Baltic countries PHOTO: YKKÖSTIE OY 22 NIB aims to raise EUR 4 billion in 2009 Interview with Head of Treasury Lars Eibeholm 23 NIB in brief BULLETIN PUBLISHER COVER PHOTO NIB Bulletin is published in English. NORDIC INVESTMENT BANK Metallurgical furnace at Elkem Solar AS, Fabianinkatu 34 Norway. Photo: Tore Jonssen, TEAM P.O. Box 249 Elkem Solar AS Director of Communications FI-00171 Helsinki, Finland Jukka Ahonen, Dimitrijs Alehins (editor), Telephone +358 10 618 001 NEW SUBSCRIPTIONS Linda Hintze, Kyra Koponen, Fax +358 10 618 0725 Telephone +358 10 618 001 Joan Löfgren, Pamela Schönberg Internet www.nib.int or www.nib.int E-mail [email protected] Layout CHANGE OF ADDRESS McCann Worldgroup Helsinki Fax +358 10 618 0723 Printed by Erweko Painotuote Oy, Helsinki BULLETIN MAY 09 3 ENERGY LE WAB RENE Furnace flames: where solar-grade silicon is born. Solar silicon production takes off in Norway In late 2008 – early 2009, The Elkem Solar plant is a result of 25 industry and has been working on the Norwegian Orkla-owned years of research and development of a development of silicon for solar cells Elkem Solar AS completed viable metallurgical production process and electronics since the early 1980s. for solar-grade silicon. Although the first solar-grade sili- a new metallurgical plant “Our aim is to industrialise a proc- con line was discontinued due to the for smelting silicon and ess that will result in lower costs and is lack of sufficient demand from the mar- tested its innovative better suited to producing large vol- ket, the company did not stop its re- production line in umes than other, more traditional tech- search and development in this area. Kristiansand, southern nologies in the industry,” says Helge And in 2006, after Orkla had taken Norway. The project has Aasen, Senior Vice President, Business over Elkem and incorporated it into its Unit, at Elkem Solar. group, an investment project worth been partly financed with NOK 2.7 billion (EUR 300 million) a loan from NIB totalling SOLID COMPETENCE was launched to build the new solar EUR 145 million. As one of the world’s leading producers silicon plant in Kristiansand. of silicon metal, Elkem Solar has a centralised R&D environment with SOLAR GRADE MEANS PURE more than 150 scientists and techni- Once the plant is commissioned later in cians employed. The company has built 2009, Elkem Solar aims at producing strong relations with the electronics 6,000 tonnes of solar-grade silicon a 4 BULLETIN MAY 09 ENERGY LE WAB RENE S R A LA SO EM , ELK ONSSEN J ORE PHOTO: T year. In solar cells, this amount of sili- Most competitors still use a gas Elkem is now helping implement con is able to produce 650 MW of en- deposition method for purifying sili- the same gas particle filtering in metal- ergy, or an electricity supply for a town con, which is an energy-consuming lurgical plants in China. of 55,000 for a year. and costly process. Solar energy is not the only indus- The metallurgical production proc- TINY SHARE, OPTIMISTIC try that uses silicon, but it sets high ess at Elkem Solar is a step up com- OUTLOOK standards for silicon purity. In order to pared to major silicon producers in the It was a bold decision made back in achieve the necessary level of purity, world which use gas phase technology 2006 to start up the industrial produc- the Elkem Solar plant uses new, patent- requiring lot of energy. tion of solar-grade silicon feedstock. ed technology based on Elkem’s long “The energy savings possible in our Today silicon may well have won the traditions in the field of silicon production. production process stem exactly from competition among materials for solar The final product of the plant is a skipping this phase. This helps us save cell production. The solar energy share brick-sized 10-kilo ingot made of puri- energy and cut costs,” says Mr Aasen. of total global electricity production is fied silicon. Solar cell manufacturers Compared to its competitors using only 0.23%. Solar energy is and will melt and crystallise it into ingots. After gas phase technology, Elkem consumes continue for some time to be depend- the ingots are cut into wafers, then about one third of the energy. It also ent on state subsidies to make it finan- dopings and other enrichment are add- keeps its gas emissions to the air at the cially viable for consumers even in the ed to make them capable of converting level of one third compared to other sunniest parts of the world, such as sunlight into electric power, thereby solar-grade silicon producers. Spain or California. becoming solar cells.

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