OREANDA-NEWS. The European Commission has announced that the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) will be extended for three further years to 2020, with the aim of mobilising €500 billion in investment.

EFSI was set up in 2015 to kick-start investments in the EU by mobilising private finance, and a large part of investments under EFSI have an energy focus.

Since its launch one year ago, EFSI – which is implemented and co-funded by the European Investment Bank (EIB) – is on track to mobilise at least €315 billion in additional investment by mid-2018.

So far, EFSI has supported energy infrastructure projects and those focussing on energy efficiency, renewable energy and smart meters. For example, in France the fund financed a project to promote energy efficiency in French housing which will cut energy bills in more than 40,000 homes.

In Spain, the fund gave a long-term loan of a gas grid project and lent money for R&D activities in a renewables-orientated technology company.