According to the terms of the agreement, NEFCO will extend a loan of EUR 3.5 million for the project. Other financiers include the EU, which has provided a grant of EUR 9.5 million and the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has availed SEK 6.9 million. As part of the programme, the authorities in the Kaliningrad region have also decided to finance the construction of new wastewater treatment plants in the towns of Baltisk and Ozerki at an estimated cost of about EUR 10 million.

The treatment plant will be entirely reconstructed as a result of the project, which includes the rehabilitation of the main sewers and pumping stations as well as the installation of frequency converters. Measures will also be taken to stop leakages from broken and rusty pipelines.

The 35-year-old plant processes the wastewater discharged by 56,000 people residing in the towns of Svetlogorsk, Zelenogradsk and Pionersk. The amount of wastewater discharged by the towns is around 12,000 cubic metres per day. When the project is completed, the plant will handle wastewater from 67,000 people as new residential areas will be connected to the network, and the upgrade will triple the plant’s capacity to 35,000 cubic metres. 

According to preliminary calculations, the project will reduce phosphorus discharges by around 13 tonnes per year, which is equivalent to unprocessed discharges from a population of some 18,000 persons. The project is also expected to reduce energy consumption by at least 30 per cent.

“It’s a highly cost-effective way of reducing eutrophicating discharges to the Baltic Sea because in this project the per-tonne price of removing phosphorus is a fraction of that obtaining in the Nordic countries, says NEFCO’s Senior Investment Manager, Ulf Bojö.

The project is part of an extensive wastewater facilities rehabilitation programme, which covers several small towns and villages in the Kaliningrad region. The EU and NEFCO have identified 20 locations in urgent need of wastewater treatment facilities rehabilitation. The first in line are Svetlogorsk, Pionersk and Zelenogradsk, partly because of their exposed location on the coast, and partly also because of the proactive efforts of the local water company, OKOS.

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Watch a slide show from the project location
Read a feature story related to the project

At the public press conference held by the Foreign Ministers following the signing of the Kirkenes Declaration establishing the Barents Cooperation in 1993, more than half of the hall was occupied by members of the environmental ad-hoc group ‘Stop the Death Clouds’ who showered the ministers with probing questions. At the same time, people with banners outside the Foreign Ministers’ hotel in Kirkenes town square were protesting against the large-scale sulphur-dioxide emissions from the smelter in the Russian town of Nikel on the Kola Peninsula. The smelter is located a few kilometers from the Norwegian border and is considered to be one of the worst hot spots of environmental problems in the entire Barents Region. Although this ad-hoc environmental group had thousands of supporters and managed to put the Nikel problem on the national agendas of both the Nordic countries and Russia, sadly they didn’t manage to solve the pollution issue itself.

Since then, the pollution of sulphur dioxide and heavy metals from Nikel has been at the top of the environmental agenda of the Barents Cooperation. Norway granted NOK 300 million in the early 1990s to help reduce the emissions. In 2003, a list of environmental hot spots in the Russian part of the Barents Region was defined by NEFCO and the
Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP). Nikel is one of the most severe spots on the list and can still get financial loans and support from Nordic financial mechanisms to solve the problems there.

Unlike in the early 1990s when Norilsk Nickel was a Soviet state-owned company, the key to clean technology in the production of metals is not financial grants from friendly Nordic neighbors. Today, Norilsk Nickel is one of the most profitable non-petroleum companies in Russia. Its 2010 revenue was USD 15 billion. In October this year, the company
presented a strategy development program that aims to boost net revenue to USD 30 billion; net income to USD 10 billion; and market value to a range of USD 140 billion to USD 250 billion by 2025.

To put this into some kind of perspective, the Board of Directors in Norilsk Nickel can meet in downtown Moscow tomorrow morning and decide to invest in clean smelting technology at its plant in Nikel. For the shareholders, such investment is pocket money – the profits from a few weeks’production should more than cover the costs.

It is interesting to note that Norilsk Nickel’s skyrocketing profits are partly driven by the world’s increasing demand for environmental friendly technology. Nickel is a key metal in batteries for non-emission vehicles while platinum, palladium and copper are widely used in catalytic converters. If Norilsk Nickel plays its cards right, the company can easily
change its image from being the worst-on-dirt to becoming a world leading supplier of metals for environmental technology produced with best available smelting processes.

Disagreements on environmental investments have impacted Norilsk Nickel’s shares before. In 2008, Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov sold his 25% stake in Norilsk Nickel and invested the proceeds in the development of nanotechnology, LED lamps and electric cars. Hopefully, today’s shareholders in the company will see the market
trends and modernize its smelters in Nikel and Monchegorsk on the Kola Peninsula. In doing so, they will grow into a leading environmental friendly mining and metallurgical lighthouse for the up-coming natural resources investment boom in the Barents Region.

Under the terms of the agreement, Rossibbalt Ltd will also be able to establish a sawdust supply system and procure a silage cutter, new sensors, anti-explosion devices and a new chimney for the production plant. The investment, which is expected to save the company some 1.1 million rubles a year, will enable the Rossibbalt Ltd to switch over from fossil fuel to renewable energy based on wood waste and sawdust left over from the production process. Emissions of carbon dioxide, sulphur and nitrogen oxides as well as soot will be minimized and energy consumption will be reduced by some 3,200 kilowatt hours per year. 

“This is NEFCO’s first project financed from its Facility for Cleaner Production in the Kaliningrad region, and our aim is that, there will be similar projects in the region soon”, says NEFCO’s Investment Manager, Peter Henningsen.

NEFCO is currently carrying out a web based marketing campaign in Russia to inform prospective clients about its Facility for Cleaner Production. The campaign, which is being jointly carried out with the Finnish marketing agency, Netbooster, is targeted at small and medium-sized companies in Northwest Russia. 

The Facility for Cleaner Production was established in 1997 to promote technological investments in industrial projects in order to curb the emission of harmful substances into the environment. The facility can finance up to EUR 350,000 or 90 per cent of the investment cost for such projects in the form of loans at favorable conditions.
Currently, the Facility for Cleaner Production has some 62 new projects under funding consideration.

Learn more about Rossibalt Ltd. (In Russian)

Find the project location on the map

Read about a similar project financed by NEFCO in Ukraine

Learn more about the Facility for Cleaner Production 

Albertslund is a Danish municipality west of Copenhagen with around 29,000 residents. The major part of the city was established over a period of 15 years starting in 1960. From the outset, Albertslund has had a number of focal issues that still put their mark on the policy pursued in the city today. In Albertslund climate and energy are part of the overall environmental effort and have a large impact on the development of the city and the way in which we tackle the present challenges.

All cities share the challenge of constantly attracting new residents and businesses. We believe that in being an exemplary city we can launch a development that will turn Albertslund into a modern, sustainable, and attractive city.
Among 44 Nordic cities Albertslund was nominated as the Nordic Energy Municipality 2011. The Nordic Council of Ministers recognizes with this initiative cities making a special effort to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions with solutions serving as an inspiration for other cities and stakeholders involved in finding and applying new, optimal energy solutions.

The City of Albertslund is facing a major urban challenge needing extensive renovation. This is on the other hand a unique opportunity for developing the city in a new and climate-friendly direction. For this task examples and concrete experience are needed to be used when more than 1,500 homes will be thoroughly renovated in the coming years.
Albertslund was elected Nordic Energy Municipality with the project ’the Albertslund Concept’ a significant energy solution with a potential reaching beyond the city in question. The Albertslund Concept develops and demonstrates new and efficient energy solutions for renovation of existing buildings. Nine pilot projects show how it is possible
to renovate industrialized buildings into different efficient energy standards.

Right now six homes have been renovated demonstrating in full scale the solutions called for to arrive at futureoriented energy efficient homes and showing the investments needed. One of the homes has a new developed solar prism and is today CO2 neutral during use. The solar prism is a solution for buildings with flat roofs that is particularly
suitable for renovation of prefabricated buildings and gives a substantial improvement of the home.

Energy renovation of homes is about much more than efficient energy solutions. More benefits must be gained if the solutions are to be used. Both for residents and the city as a whole. More daylight, better indoor climate, and new architecture for the city.

Local authorities can play a decisive role as co-developersof green solutions. For it is beyond any doubt that energy solutions must serve many purposes in order to be applied in large scale. Focus is on green and market-oriented solutions. And the key word is cooperation, without which the Albertslund Concept would not have been a success.
The Albertslund Concept has emerged in close cooperation between the local authority, housing associations, energy technology, energy consultancy, architects, and the building industry. In this way we are tackling the climate challenge jointly and each party is expanding its professional expertise.