The Renewable Energy Innovation Fund (REIF) approved its first three financial operations, providing USD 1,000,000 in reimbursable financing for projects that promote the Second Energy Transition in Uruguay.

The Renewable Energy Innovation Fund (REIF), supported by a US$10 million grant from the United Nations Joint Sustainable Development Goals Fund (Joint SDG Fund), presents a public-private partnership approach to finance and provide technical assistance to innovative projects to decarbonize key sectors of the Uruguayan economy. REIF is an instrument to help implement the Uruguayan government's energy policy, supported by the triple-impact financing that private commercial banks seek to promote.

In this regard, the Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining of Uruguay, Omar Paganini, stated that "REIF is a model that generates success and that we want to multiply. It is the way to align the objectives of the national government and the world to decarbonize, with the objectives of the companies to survive, grow and be profitable, but aiming at the triple impact; environmental, social and economic". The Deputy Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining, Walter Verri, confirmed that "After a successful first energy transition, instruments such as REIF consolidate the country's mission to move towards decarbonization, involving all actors in the system, in the search for a more sustainable Uruguay."

After signing cooperation agreements with seven commercial banks in the country (more than 80% of the relevant segment of the banking system), REIF closed its first three financial operations, leveraging investments with Heritage, Itaú and BBVA banks in energy transformation plans linked to electric mobility and energy efficiency.

The approved projects include a car rental company, which will purchase electric vehicles and chargers for subsequent rental; a mechanical assistance company, which will purchase light electric trucks and chargers to replace part of its diesel fleet; and a hotel that will install an efficient water heating system with heat pumps. Total financing for these investment projects is $4 million, of which $1 million will be provided by REIF. The investment committee, a team of experts formed to analyze and approve projects to be financed based on triple impact criteria, is currently analyzing two other energy transformation projects for a contribution of US$1,150,000 from REIF.

UNIDO is the lead UN agency in the implementation of REIF. From that perspective Manuel Albaladejo, Representative of the UNIDO office for the Southern Cone, argues that "REIF was conceived to catalyze triple impact private financing and break with the traditional model of cooperation that is no longer applicable to middle and high income countries such as Uruguay. It is a new way of creating public-private partnerships for development financing."

In 2020, the United Nations Joint SDG Fund selected the REIF project proposed by Uruguay, among more than 150 applications from various countries. In this regard, the UN Resident Coordinator in Uruguay, Pablo Ruiz, after a press conference to announce the news, said: "Uruguay is an important country for us, UN agencies take it into account for experimental projects because it has good institutional conditions, because of its stability and because it is a serious country".

Note:

REIF is an initiative in which the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining (MIEM), the Ministry of Environment (MA), the Office of Planning and Budget (OPP), and the National Administration of Power Plants and Electric Transmissions (UTE) participate, financed by the Joint SDG Fund and implemented by the United Nations Uruguay, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the United Nations Agency for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).