Now renewable energy is a pan-European and a global trend, and it has been actively developed in Ukraine. Solar panels, wind turbines, heat pumps, biomass are not only modern words, but also opportunities to increase energy independence of both separate households and the state as a whole. This tendency is acknowledged in the EU countries and promoted in Ukraine now.
EU leaders initiated so-called package "20-20-20" yet in 2007, which was approved in 2009 and provided that all EU countries have to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by 20% to 2020 (in comparison with the 1990 level), improve its own energy efficiency by 20%, and meet energy needs by 20% from renewable energy sources.
Ukraine, as indicated in the project report "Monitoring and promoting implementation of energy efficiency and energy saving policies in Ivano-Frankivsk region" (project is implemented by the Bureau of Development, Innovations and Technologies, Ivano-Frankivsk, within the framework of the project "Promoting reforms in regions" of the EU program "Supporting Civil Society in Ukraine"), has a great potential of renewable energy sources, taking 33rd place among the top 40 world markets, and outperforms all the CIS countries. Total annual technically achievable energy potential of major renewable energy sources in Ukraine is about 81 million tons of oil equivalent or 70 billion cubic meters of natural gas.
However, Ukrainian renewable energy was not developed as quickly as in other European countries. For example, in Poland, renewable sources cover 13,5% of electricity needs (according to Eurostat of 2016), in Germany - 32%, Slovakia - 22.5%. Norway is a European record holder, which covers own needs for electricity from renewable sources by 100% and even has its overproduction by 4%. Indicators of Ukraine are less encouraging, only 4% of electricity is produced from renewable sources.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s membership in the Energy Community and the Association Agreement with the EU oblige Ukraine to bring its own energy sector in line with the requirements of the legal framework of the European Union. Accordingly, the state fixed this goal in the Energy Strategy till 2035 to increase the production of electricity from renewable sources by 2020, but only up to 11%. However, just definition of the goal is not enough, it is necessary to launch a mechanism that will stimulate the achievement of this goal.
Ukraine launched programs that should attract interest of business and population to invest in renewable energy development. "Green tariffs", lower cost of equipment, simplification of connection and operation procedures are the key factors of these programs for the population and potential investors. Unfortunately, according to the research, conducted by the experts of the Centre for Global Studies "Strategy XXI" within the project "Enabling the Energy Union through understanding the drivers of individual and collective energy choices in Europe" (the project ENABLE.EU with the financial support of the EU program "Horizon 2020"), an ecological factor to increase the use of clean energy to save the environment is not a decisive for Ukrainians.
Renewable energy is more attractive for Ukrainians as a tool to save or earn money. One of the stimulating factors is also achieving energy autonomy of the households, buildings or enterprises that is accompanied, as in the previous case, by a desire to save money on the electricity costs. That's why, stimulating factors are those that allow to have profit or reduce the cost of equipment. Today in Ukraine, there is a "green tariff" - 0.18 Euro per 1 kW produced from renewable energy sources. However, this tariff is valid until 2030 and it is gradually decreasing. According to Ukrainian legislation, it is planned to reduce the tariff by 10% in 2020, and by another 10% in 2025. A new mechanism for providing a "green tariff" is also discussed and based on auctions for commercial RE projects.
The introduction of a "green tariff" has become a driving force for Ukraine. If at the beginning of 2015 there were only 40 private Solar Power Plants (SPP) in Ukrainian households, at the end of the first quarter of 2018 there were already 3 553 such SPPs in Ukraine, which provided a total power generation capacity of about 60 MW. This is a relatively small part of the total renewable energy generation in Ukraine, which is 1534 MW, half of which - 841 MW - falls on solar power.
The factor of reducing the cost of equipment is considered in two directions - gradual decrease in prices for solar panels, inverters and software, and also the reimbursement of part of the equipment by the state or local authorities. However, programs for reimbursement of part of the equipment costs have not become widespread in Ukraine. As Director of the Department of Renewable Energy Sources of the State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving of Ukraine (SAEE) Yuriy Shafarenko said in his interview with the Hromadske Radio, programs for compensation of installed equipment for the use of renewable energy sources are valid only in certain regions: Zhytomyr (20% refund), Ternopil (20%), Vinnytsia (15%), Lviv (10%); and in two cities - Khmelnytskyi and Brody of the Lviv region. The experts of the Centre for Global Studies "Strategy XXI" interviewed the owners of solar power plants within the framework of the project enable.eu, and the results showed that such regional support programs have become one of the key stimulants, especially in the Zhytomyr region. Therefore, this experience should be applied in all regions of Ukraine.
Simplification of connection and operation procedures provides the absence of bureaucratic barriers while getting formal approval of a connection of new power sources, as well as the ability of power companies to provide technical capabilities of local power grids for such connections. At the same time, the owners of private SPPs note the obsolescence of electrical and transformer equipment in Ukraine, and correspondly, its low capacity and the inability to transfer electricity into the grid; for example, if the owner of a private house decided to install a station of 20 or 30 kW, but the existing network is barely coping with 10kW. Therefore, the development of renewable energy is impossible without the modernization of Ukrainian local power grids that needs additional financial investments from their operators, which mostly are private companies (oblenergos).
Connection of private power plants to district electric networks and their further exploitation, including the monitoring of volumes of produced electricity, documentary registration and payments to the owners of the plants, requires the presence of trained specialists in electric power companies (oblenergos and local electric grids). Often, owners of private power plants were forced to "teach" employees of electric companies in small towns and district centers on what they should do in accordance with the Ukrainian legal framework to connect a private power plant with a "green tariff". The situation in the oblast centers is better. All problems are solved through oblenergos, which creates some inconvenience for the owners of solar power plants, especially for those who live far from the regional centers and are forced to cover long distances to solve certain issues. There is also an inconvenience with monitoring of produced electricity and their documented confirmation - signing acts. In many areas, private SPPs owners have to go to the regional center every month, sometimes travelling hundreds of kilometers, for the monthly personal signing of acts on produced electricity to receive earned money. With the growing number of private power plants, it will be difficult for oblenergos to solve all problems from their regional centers, a monthly trip there for signing an act may become a constraining factor to potential private SPPs owners. Therefore, it is necessary to train qualified specialists in district electrical grids and switch to electronic document flow using electronic signatures, as it is already done in the Ivano-Frankivsk region.
One of the restraining factors in the more active development of renewable energy in Ukraine is also the lack of information provided for potential investors. For example, on the website "Prykarpattyaoblenergo", it is impossible to find information on the conditions for connecting private power plants on renewable energy sources and the "green tariff". The same situation is in many other areas. As suggested by the experts of the Bureau of Development, Innovations and Technologies (Ivano-Frankivsk) within the framework of the project "Monitoring and promoting implementation of energy efficiency and energy saving policies in the Ivano-Frankivsk region", the situation can be improved through educational work with the use of local information centers. For example, in Ivano-Frankivsk, the scientific center "New Energy" of the Ivano-Frankivsk National Technical University of Oil and Gas became such a center, in Lviv - Center for the Development of Local Self-Government. But such centers should be numerous not only in cities, but also in towns and district centers of Ukraine.
For more comprehensive use of Ukrainian renewable energy potential, national and regional programs for sustainable energy development or development of renewable energy sources should not be simply approved. Objectives for the regions should be defined for renewable energy production that would allow Ukraine to reach the planned level of 11% and to conduct active stimulating work on the ground. It is important to take measures to inform the population about "green tariffs", technologies, terms of use, support programs, etc. Local authorities and communities should develop and implement support programs for private power plants, which use solar, wind or biomass, by providing compensation to their owners and attracting assistance from European financial institutions, such as the European Investment Bank or the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Indeed, the European integration lays in such practical actions - in improvement of the lives of people in the energy independent state.
Vitalii Martyniuk, Head of International Programs, Centre for Global Studies "Strategy XXI"
Specially for the web-site Glavkom
Project “Enabling the Energy Union through understanding the drivers of individual and collective energy choices in Europe” (ENABLE.EU)
The Project ENABLE.EU has received funding from the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation - Horizon 2020 under Grant Agreement no. 727524.
