Access to Green Finance for SMEs in Georgia

Annex B. SME low-cost energy and resource efficiency investments

 

Name of RECP investment measure	Brief project description including expected environmental benefits and cost savings	Total investment cost, EUR	Company type
Improved energy efficiency at an asphalt producing factory	Recovering the heat of exhaust gases coming out of the outlet of the heat exchanging tube for heating the bitumen tank and bitumen internal part. Installation of exhaust gas collectors for the heat recovery Using special hydro-insulating cover which must be placed on piles of inert materials when raining or snowing Installing heat insulation of the bitumen pipeline Improved energy efficiency will reduce emissions of CO2 and other pollutants into the atmosphere and will also improve environment quality at the factory site. Annual CO2 emission reduction: 82.9 tonnes; cost savings: EUR 13 503	6 300	Small-sized asphalt producing company, 38 employees
Reduction of natural gas and bitumen consumption for drying the inert material and mineral powder; installation of additional equipment	Covering the inert materials stored in open air with a special waterproof material (2 000 m2) and arranging water drainage channels of up to 200 m. As a result of this measure, 37 500 m3 of natural gas or EUR 10 240 per year will be saved Roofing one section of the open type bitumen reservoir including metal construction, channel # 10, square pipe 60 * 100mm and roofing sheet 0.5mm. This measure will lead to saving up to 4 000m3 of natural gas per year, equivalent to EUR 1 100 Using a Surface Active Agents technology will save up to 32 tonnes of bitumen per year. To install this technology special equipment is needed and direct contact with the producers of these substances. This technology results in cost savings of EUR 11 076 per year	9 450	Medium-sized road construction company, 135 employees
Reducing energy consumption of equipment installed in an artisanal way: heat insulation and solar collectors	Installing heat insulation using a new mine well cap equipment Installing 6 south-oriented units of vacuum 30-tube solar collector to reduce electricity consumption, the solar installation will generate heat in winter time, while during the summer it will heat water without using electricity Estimates show that changing the mine well cap construction and arranging additional thermal insulation will result in electricity consumption of 10 275 kWh, which is equivalent to 10% of the energy currently consumed by the company, this in turn translates into EUR 780 of annual savings. As a result of the installation of the vacuum 30-tube solar collectors for water heating, electricity savings will reach 32 900 kWh, which is equivalent to 75% of the energy currently consumed, this will enabling the company to save EUR 1 900 per year	6 200	Medium-sized metalware production company, 41 employees
Substituting the fossil fuel used for steam generation with relatively cheaper energy source – biofuel	Grape ridge from wine making will be used as a biofuel, significant amounts of grape ridge are stored in local wineries. Malt husk can also be used as bio fuel for heat generation The proposed heat generator can be assembled in the local metal construction factory Replacing the boiler operating on natural gas with a heat generator operating on biofuel will increase the production efficiency of the company by reducing the cost of heat generation. This measure will also reduce waste generated in the production process of wineries in the region	15 000	Small-sized brewery, 38 employees
Substituting the fossil fuel used for steam generation with a relatively cheaper biofuel: replacing a boiler operating on natural gas	Replacing the boiler operating on natural gas with a heat generator operating on biofuel. In this case, 10 tonnes of biofuel (grape ridge) will be consumed instead of 5 578 m3 of natural gas. Annually, this will result in 130-140 tonnes of grape ridge used (remaining as waste from wine making) with energy potential estimated at the equivalent of 75-80 000 m3 of natural gas. In addition, 11 tonnes of CO2 emissions can annually be reduced Despite a small NPV for a 5-year project, the project will have a considerable environmental impact as it will help introducing a Circular Economy approach at the enterprise	5 500	Small-sized wine and cognac producing enterprise, 55 employees

Note: As part of the EU-funded EaP GREEN project, UNIDO’s work on Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production (RECP) in the manufacturing sector in Georgia was focused on supporting SMEs to identify RECP measures and prepare projects to finance them. The projects included in this table come from UNIDO’s work on the ground. The examples show the potential environmental and cost savings that small businesses can achieve as a result of implementing RECP measures. The examples also show that many of these typical energy and resource efficiency investments by small firms are low-cost measures and fall in this middle segment of green investments, which are not interesting either for microfinance organisations or for traditional banks. This gap in the market of environmental finance for SMEs needs government attention.

Source: Information provided by UNIDO.