Financing future-proof local bioenergy: lessons learnt from mentoring of SME pilot projects. WP5 Final report

Abstract

The European bioenergy sector requires a wide promotion for strong investments in regional sustainable supply chain solutions. SMEs are central in the value chain in local bioenergy markets, as they are operating throughout all the stages of bioenergy mobilisation, from forestry management to energy plants or even energy commercialisation to final consumers. One of the major barriers that SMEs face when assessing potential bioenergy operations is the difficulty to access adequate financing; WP5 within project SECURECHAIN aims to analyse such difficulties and contribute to overcome them. The specific objectives of WP5 are: • O5.1 Carry out targeted market feasibility surveys, pre-checks and develop a risk assessment tool to support the implementation of priority SSCM pilot projects • O5.2 Mentor companies’ capital call strategies tailored to investor types and upgrade corporate finance disclosing in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) • O5.3 Foster lobbying actions and dialogue between financial players and bioenergy market actors to promote the portfolio of investment proposals

This deliverable D5.3 is the final report of the activities within WP5, mainly about period 2 from September 2016 to July 2018. The market pre-check (T5.1) was carried out in phase 1 and reported in deliverable D5.1. The risk assessment analysis (T5.2) performed, the continuous financial mentoring (T5.3) being worked out with the SME business projects, and the roadshows (T5.4) that have been attended, as well as planning activities that were performed during the final year of the project, are documented in this report.