PODGORICA (Montenegro), May 18 (SeeNews) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Thursday that Montenegro will become its first country of operation, which will meet the EU target of smart meter coverage for at least 80% of the population by 2020.
Montenegrin electricity distribution company Crnogorski elektrodistributivni system (CEDIS) plans to use the proceeds of a 32 million euro ($35.6 million) loan from the EBRD to procure 60,000 devices for smart metering, which will mean that over 85% of consumers will benefit from these devices, the bank said in a statement.
"Montenegro’s electricity sector is already one of the most modern in Europe. It is not a coincidence that the country also has the highest amount of EBRD financing per capita in all of our region," the EBRD Director for Power and Energy, Harry Boyd-Carpenter, said in the statement.
Technical cooperation for the project has been provided by EBRD funds dedicated to projects under the bank’s Green Economy Transition approach and the EBRD Shareholder Special Fund.
The completion of this project is also bringing additional value by investing significant resources in the reconstruction of the low voltage distribution network with the aim to improve considerably quality of services to all customers, the CEO of CEDIS, Zoran Djukanovic, noted.
In January, the EBRD said CEDIS plans to finance the installation of about 45,000 smart meters and rehabilitation of around 600 – 800 km of low voltage lines in the 2017-2019 period with the proceeds of the 32 million euro loan, for which it applied with the EBRD on November 11.
($ = 0.897723 euro)