{"id":300,"date":"2018-07-04T14:24:29","date_gmt":"2018-07-04T11:24:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/udpr.com.ua\/?p=300"},"modified":"2018-07-04T14:24:29","modified_gmt":"2018-07-04T11:24:29","slug":"renewables-to-bring-energy-independence-to-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/udpr.com.ua\/en\/2018\/07\/04\/renewables-to-bring-energy-independence-to-ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"Renewables to bring energy independence to Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Energy security and independence have moved higher on the agenda in Ukraine since Russia launched its war in the Donbas four years ago. Before 2014, Ukraine relied heavily on Russia as a gas supplier.<\/p>\n

But the war and the annexation of Crimea has turned Ukraine away from Moscow and toward friendlier, but pricier suppliers, like Hungary and Poland.<\/p>\n

Ukraine hasn\u2019t imported any gas from Russia for its own needs for more than two and-half years now. However, it still imports Russian gas that it transits on to Russian gas company Gazprom\u2019s customers to the west.<\/p>\n

Now the construction of Nord Stream 2 \u2014 a pipeline that will transport gas from Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea \u2014 has raised doubts about Ukraine\u2019s continued status as a major transit country for Russian gas, which in turn raises doubts about its energy security.<\/p>\n

To some the answer is clear: bolster renewable energy. While the share of energy Ukraine gets from renewable sources is still quite low, at 1.2 percent in 2017 (2.086 million kilowatts), the market is growing rapidly.<\/p>\n

Optimistic forecasts see Ukraine obtaining nearly all of its power from renewable sources by mid-century. But this \u201crevolutionary scenario\u201d would require significant investment and development of infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Investment and incentives<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s current energy generation mix is heavily tilted to fossil fuel and nuclear, with coal- and gas-fired power plants and nuclear power accounting for up to 92 percent of the energy generated. But that mix has been changing \u2014 slowly.<\/p>\n

Since 2014, $550 million has been invested in Ukrainian renewables, according to Ukraine\u2019s National Investment Council.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a fraction of what Ukraine\u2019s neighbors have invested over the same amount of time. Hungary, not known for its green policies, pumped $649 million into renewables in 2017 alone.<\/p>\n

All the same, Ukraine\u2019s renewable sector is growing fast: Renewable production tripled from 2012 to 2017, according to Ukrainian Association of Renewable Energy.<\/p>\n

One reason for this is that renewables are a good business in Ukraine, say proponents. \u201cIt\u2019s an absolutely transparent business, which can bring project payback in one to six years,\u201d said Yuriy Podolyak, the commercial director of IK NET, an energy project management company in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Another reason is Ukraine\u2019s green tariff system, set up in 2009, which offers a higher rate to producers of renewable energy on Ukraine\u2019s national energy market \u2014 a rate that\u2019s fixed for a producer when they enter the market. Add to that other favorable factors, such as Ukraine\u2019s large land area and climate, good for both wind and solar power plants, and there are ideal conditions for the renewable energy market to develop.<\/p>\n

\u201cA renewable market is not just a cool thing to have,\u201d Mats Lundin, acting chairman of the European-Ukrainian Energy Agency and founder of wind-power company Vindkraft Ukraina, told the Kyiv Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look worldwide today, the renewable market is the only (part of the energy market) that is really developing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lundin says non-nuclear renewables will soon be Ukraine\u2019s cheapest energy option, given the social costs of coal power.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cost for society to keep coal-fired power plants will be much more expensive than simply going for renewables. So, it\u2019s better to close (coal-fired power plants) and start building more renewables,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Research by Ukraine\u2019s National Academy of Sciences suggests that, with proper investment, 90 percent of Ukraine\u2019s energy could come from renewables.<\/p>\n

Wind and solar power <\/strong><\/p>\n

What sources of renewable energy will prove the most profitable, however, is a different question. The constant, steady winds in the south of Ukraine makes wind-power prospects there good.<\/p>\n

Wind energy accounted for 47 percent of Ukraine\u2019s renewable electricity generation last year, or 970.5 million kWh. Sixty-five percent of that energy was generated by a single company: DTEK, owned by oligarch Rinat Akhmetov.<\/p>\n

The company operates the biggest wind power station in Ukraine \u2014 Botievo Wind Farm in Zaporizhzhya Oblast, with a capacity of 200 megawatts.<\/p>\n

That capacity will soon double, as DTEK has partnered with General Electric to build a second plant in Zaporizhzhya Oblast.<\/p>\n

The first stage of construction, a $150 million investment, is projected to be completed in 2019.<\/p>\n

After wind comes solar power, accounting for 35 percent of Ukraine\u2019s renewable electricity production in 2017\u2013710.7 million kWh.<\/p>\n

Just recently Ukrainian solar power company UDP Renewables announced a large-scale partnership with the Spanish company Acciona Energia Global, a global leader in green generation. The plan is to operate a solar plant with an annual capacity of 57.6 megawatts in Kyiv Oblast.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe plan to reach a capacity portfolio of 100 megawatts in January 2019,\u201d said Sergiy Yevtushenko, managing partner of UDP Renewables.<\/p>\n

Another large foreign company interested in solar power investments in Ukraine is TIU Canada, which last year built a 10.5 megawatt station in the city of Nikopol in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we\u2019re planning about four more projects in Ukraine,\u201d said Valentyna Beliakova, director TIU Canada.<\/p>\n

Biogas projects <\/strong><\/p>\n

After wind and solar power comes biogas, accounting for 194.8 megawatts of Ukraine\u2019s power generation capacity.<\/p>\n

Biogas, generated mostly by by-products of livestock farming, has a lower failure rate than solar and wind power enterprises, says Podolyak. \u201cWe see the least number of all failures in the biogas and biomass projects, as these projects are initially evaluated as complex, and so are approached more carefully. In terms of documentation, solar power plants are the most difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

Biogas is most effective at a smaller scale: 1 megawatt, says Yuriy Epstein, director of the consulting company Accord.<\/p>\n

His opinion is that biogas projects are the most attractive long term, as they don\u2019t depend on weather conditions and produce fertilizers for the agricultural sector.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Risks <\/strong><\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s green tariff promises profits, but the country\u2019s business climate remains less than welcoming owing to shifting legislation and sparse credit options in the country.<\/p>\n

On the legislative side, a new draft law in the Verkhovna Rada proposes that, from July 1 next year, new solar power plants over 10 megawatts and wind projects over 20 megawatts will have to sell their power at auctions, as opposed to benefitting from the green tariff.<\/p>\n

Though such auctions have been successful in other countries, investors said this law, as well as other changes to the legislation, makes planning their business difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cInvestors always look for a certain amount of stability in order to predict their actions for a long time. But in Ukraine it\u2019s a never ending process.<\/p>\n

The Ukrainian market can change for various unpredictable reasons,\u201d said Lundin. \u201cWe have just started work with the green tariff, and now they\u2019re cutting it off and changing the rules of the game for investors,\u201d said Beliakova.<\/p>\n

Lundin says the idea of switching to auctions for green energy arose because of the great interest in renewable energy projects.<\/p>\n

But he cautions that such auctions have failed elsewhere. \u201cLook at the Turkish market\u2026 because the tariff is so low, (investors) will have to sit and wait for 5 to 10 years before equipment is cheap enough (for their costs) to match the tariff,\u201d said Lundin.<\/p>\n

Another risk is the perennially shaky financial market in Ukraine, where banks will rarely give long-term credit, and, if they do, provide it at interest rates from three to four percent higher than in Europe.<\/p>\n

Investors who fail to get a loan from Ukrgasbank, Oschadbank, or other such Ukrainian banks will have to go to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for credit.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Original article:\u00a0https:\/\/www.kyivpost.com\/business\/renewables-to-bring-energy-independence-to-ukraine.html<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kyiv Post: Optimistic forecasts see Ukraine obtaining nearly all of its power from renewable sources by mid-century. But this \u201crevolutionary scenario\u201d would require significant investment and development of infrastructure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":304,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nRenewables to bring energy independence to Ukraine - udpr<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/udpr.com.ua\/en\/2018\/07\/04\/renewables-to-bring-energy-independence-to-ukraine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Renewables to bring energy independence to Ukraine - udpr\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kyiv Post: Optimistic forecasts see Ukraine obtaining nearly all of its power from renewable sources by mid-century. 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