Government Crediting and Loan Guarantee for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Investment - FOGIME

The FOGIME, a loan guarantee fund for small and medium-sized businesses' energy sustainability (efficiency and renewables) investments, was created in November 2000. It is a co-operative effort between the French development bank for SMEs (BDPME) and the French Agency for Environment and Energy Management (ADEME). FOGIME has a budget of approximately 17.8 million Euro, which can guarantee up to 244 million Euro of loans to the private sector. This guarantee is only available for SMEs more than three years old with less than 500 m FF turnover and less than 500 employees (to evolve to 250 m FF and 250 employees to correspond to EU criteria for SMEs).

Eligible investments include:

-high performance production, use, recovery and energy storage equipment;

-energy efficient modifications of production processes and renewables.

The guarantee covers medium and long-term risks (2-15 years) and insures the risk taken by the financial institution providing the loan. The guarantee covers 70% of the loan in comparison to 40% average coverage rates for other SME projects covered by BDPME.

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