Ukraine has refused to buy electricity from the Belarusian nuclear power plant (NPP), Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė said following talks with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in Vilnius on Thursday.
At a joint press conference, she welcomed Ukraine’s withdrawal from dangerous suppliers and its desire to join the European ENTSO-E electricity market.
According to her, the “green” transition is also important.
The EU will mobilize EUR 17 billion in investments for the Eastern Partnership countries to develop a more dynamic economy and society in the region, said EU Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Oliver Várhelyi.
Várhelyi said at a conference on Ukraine reforms, which is taking place in Vilnius on Wednesday, that he is in Georgia today, but glad that he can join the conference via video link. He said he was engaged in delivering a very positive message for the Eastern Partnership countries, including Ukraine, about a significant new economic and investment plan for the region, adding that they are mobilizing EUR 17 billion investment for the region, in order to build new, more sustainable and more dynamic economies and societies in the region.
Ukraine and Denmark have signed a cooperation agreement that opens up opportunities for companies working with green energy, among other things, the press service of the Ministry of Energy said.
“The agreement between the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Denmark will mark a new stage in deepening intergovernmental cooperation, which will focus on strengthening the environment for sustainable energy solutions and technologies based on Danish experience and technical assistance, as well as opportunities for companies working with ‘green’ energy,” the message says.
According to Minister of Energy of Ukraine Herman Haluschenko, “Denmark is one of the European leaders in the implementation of the transition to ‘green’ energy. Ukraine, in turn, shares the goals of the European Green Deal. Therefore, I see significant potential for deepening cooperation between our states in the development of renewable sources of energy and enhancing energy security.”
The press service of the Ministry of Energy noted that Ukraine is making significant efforts to implement projects aimed at reducing traditional energy consumption, increasing energy efficiency and introducing energy-saving technologies. The draft National Energy Efficiency Action Plan developed by the Ministry of Energy provides for a decrease in final energy consumption by more than 17% by 2030.
In its turn, the Danish Energy Agency will contribute in the form of consultations, technical assistance and mutual training of specialists from the Ukrainian energy sector.
“The energy partnership with Denmark will help improve conditions for the introduction of the latest environmentally friendly energy technologies and attracting investments in sustainable energy,” Haluschenko said.
Ukraine in August 2021 may receive trains to test the work of the Kyiv City Express project.
“The first project will be Kyiv City Express. It is already working. Now we are launching, we are looking at it in a test mode. We will receive several trains for testing. I hope that it will be in August this year. And, accordingly, we will start working this year as well,” the deputy head of the President’s Office, the coordinator of the Big Construction program, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said during the Ukraine 30 forum.
According to him, the rolling stock of suburban trains in Ukraine has practically never been updated, with the exception of several reconstructions.
“Now we are cooperating with several well-known world companies, specifically dealing with City Express projects, and are launching them in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Dnipro. These are the three largest agglomerations around these cities,” Tymoshenko stressed.
As reported, the Swiss company Stadler has chosen a location for the deployment of a plant for the production of electric trains in Ukraine. This year it will hand over one or two trains for testing.
The Norwegian company Scatec on July 6 held the opening ceremony of its fifth solar power plant (SPP) in Ukraine with a capacity of 40 MW in Chyhyryn district (Cherkasy region).
As reported, from July 2, the company also began commercial operation of its largest in Ukraine SPP Prohresivka (Mykolaiv region) with a capacity of 148 MW, and from the beginning of June – a 25 MW solar plant Kamyanka (Cherkasy region).
In addition, in 2020, Scatec launched a 54 MW SPP near Bohuslav (Kyiv region), and in 2019, together with Rengy Development Group, implemented its first Ukrainian project of a 47 MW SPP in Mykolaiv region.
Thus, the total capacity of solar generation facilities built by Scatec in three regions of Ukraine has reached 314 MW.
According to PJSC Cherkasyoblenergo, the construction of a 40 MW SPP near Chyhyryn, in particular, has become one of the largest investment projects in Cherkasy region.
In order to connect the Scatec facility to the power grids, Cherkasyoblenergo carried out technical re-equipment of the 150/35/10 kV Orbita substation, and also built two overhead power transmission lines of 150 kV Orbita-Greenteco-SPP. The works worth UAH 139 million were partially financed from the funds of Greenteco SPP LLC (Scatec Ukraine) as a payment for connecting to the power grids.
“The team of Cherkasyoblenergo, for its part, fully supports the development of “green” energy in Cherkasy region and will do everything possible to increase its share in the total amount of electricity generated in the regional power grid,” chairman of the board of the company Oleh Samchuk said.
The Cabinet of Ministers, pursuant to the law on ensuring equal conditions for fathers and mothers in caring for a child, approved the procedure for granting parental leave to fathers for 14 days.
The corresponding resolution was approved by the government at a meeting on Wednesday.
According to the draft resolution, the father of a newborn child may be granted such leave even if he is not in a registered marriage with his mother, but lives with her. Also, the grandmother or grandfather of the child, or another adult relative who actually takes care of the child, can apply for such leave.
The leave is provided once, lasting up to 14 days, as indicated in the draft resolution. It must be used before the 104th birthday of the child.
At the same time, in the case of the birth of two or more children, the duration of such leave does not increase, the draft resolution says.
