Deutsche Bank aims to support companies faced with rising gas and electricity prices by offering a loan program for photovoltaic investments. Loans of up to 250,000 euros are available. On course for green transformation.
Gas and electricity prices soar
Gas and electricity prices are breaking new records every day. In Rotterdam, a MWh of gas now costs 320 euros, compared with 15 euros before the energy crisis. The wholesale price for electricity to be delivered in 2023 has passed the 1,000 euro mark in Germany, compared with 85 euros a year ago.
As the conflict in Ukraine continues, Russia continues to reduce its gas deliveries to the European Union. The continent's largest gas pipeline, Nord Stream 1, which was shut down for 3 days for maintenance in early September, has not resumed service.
Norway, another EU supplier, is also struggling to maintain sufficient volumes due to a series of maintenance operations. All these factors are behind the explosion in gas and electricity prices , which is currently putting companies in a difficult position.
A credit program reserved for companies and businesses
" We want to help companies cope with energy cost inflation," Hauke Burkhardt, head of credit activities at Deutsche Bank's corporate banking division, tells Les Echos newspaper.
Deutsche Bank recently announced the creation of a loan program to support small and medium-sized businesses in their energy-saving investments, enabling them to gain financial leeway.
Launched at the beginning of September, the program offered by the German bank gives access to loans of up to 250,000 euros at fixed rates starting from 3.99%, repayable over 12 to 180 months.
For the time being, this is the only specific credit program launched in Germany. However, such initiatives could become more widespread among banks, as the need for "green" loans has doubled in 2 years, as revealed by a DZ Bank analysis published last August. According to the survey, 70% of companies with annual sales in excess of €50 million intend to invest rapidly in this sector. There has also been an increase in requests for investment to improve the efficiency of industrial plants and processes in Germany.
Increased bank support for businesses seems inevitable as energy threatens the survival of more than a third of German SMEs, according to a survey by the Federation of German Industry. Most of these companies have fewer than one hundred employees.