Ukraine’s goverment to offer free-interest loans to help buy energy equipment

Source: Ukraine’s energy ministry 

Ukraine’s Prime Minister, Denis Shmyhal, announced on Monday that his government is launching a program offering interest-free loans to Ukrainians for the purchase of solar panels, wind turbines, and other energy-generating equipment.

The maximum loan amount will be up to 480,000 Ukrainian hryvnias with a 10-year repayment period.

Funds will be provided through major Ukrainian banks including PrivatBank, Oschadbank, Ukrgazbank, Sens Bank, and Globus. Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy stated that the list of participating banks is expected to grow.

Additionally, another loan program, “Affordable Loans 5-7-9,” will provide loans up to 5 million hryvnias at 7% interest to housing associations and cooperatives. These funds can be used for purchasing and installing solar panels, inverters, energy storage systems, and other energy equipment.

Currently, such loans are already available from banks like Oschadbank, Vostok, PrivatBank, Sens Bank, Ukrgazbank, Globus, and Sky Bank.

The government has also introduced the “GreenDIM” program, launched in May, which offers compensation to housing associations for the purchase of solar power stations and/or heat pumps. Maximum compensation amounts are 1 million hryvnias for solar energy systems, 2 million hryvnias for heat pumps, and up to 3 million hryvnias if both systems are installed simultaneously. Interested parties must apply through the Energy Efficiency Fund to participate in the “GreenDIM” program.

The “Affordable Loans 5-7-9” program also supports businesses looking to purchase and install gas turbines, gas piston engines, or biogas generating units. The maximum loan amount is up to 150 million hryvnias with a repayment term of up to 10 years.

For businesses planning to develop their own energy generation exceeding 150 million hryvnias, favorable lending options are now available from Ukraine’s 19 largest banks.

Loan amounts can reach up to 25 million euros with repayment terms of 5 to 7 years. The base interest rate for loans in national currency starts at 13.5% annually for the first year, or UIRD3M+0.5%, floating thereafter but not exceeding UIRD12M+3%.