KYIV. April 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The key innovative ideas for the Ukrainian energy sector are construction of solar power plants and wind farms with synchronous boosting of maneuvering power capacities in the form of combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plants and energy storage units, businessman Konstantin Grigorishin, who owns a number of regional power supply companies and power engineering enterprises, has said.
“In next 20 or 30 years we should build… from 7 to 10 gigawatts of CCGT plants. We should synchronously build wind farms – from 1 to 2 gigawatts a year, as well as solar [power plants] – also 15-20 gigawatts. At the same time today we should test energy storage units launching local production,” the businessman said in an interview with the Energoreforma (Energy Reform) resource of Interfax-Ukraine.
He said that the current structure of the Ukrainian balance of energy is out of date.
“It [the balance of energy] consists of hydrocarbons (oil and gas), coal, nuclear fuel, hydroelectric power and some solar and wind units. If today the share of “green” energy in the country’ balance is no more than 1-2%, in developed countries it is larger, and in the prospect of 20 or 30 years it is at least 50%,” he said.
He said that today in over 50 countries solar and wind power is the cheapest, being 3 or 4 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) in the United States and around 4 cents per kWh in England.
“The “green” energy technologies are changing so quickly that the cost of the installation of new facilities will be reduced and their efficiency would grow. Finally this would result in the large cheapening of electricity,” the businessman said.
He said that construction of “green” energy facilities in Ukraine would be profit-making at the price of around 5 cents per kWh, while the current price of over 10 cents is too high.
“Even if we finally annul the Rotterdam+ formula, with the current capital rate the cost of coal-burning energy would exceed 10 cents, taking into account operation costs and cost-effectiveness of business,” he said.
Grigorishin said that even with the reduction of the capital cost from 10% to 5% the investment element will be at least 3-4 cents plus the cost of emissions and the cost of coal, operation costs.
“It is unlikely that the price of electricity generated from coal burning will be less than 8-10 cents. Today the world is using only old units that have been built letting them generating electricity if they exist,” he said.
He said that for nuclear energy, the completion of two reactors designed in Russia could be discussed. It could cost $2,000-3,000 per kWh, but due to the politics this option is not good.
He said that pumped storage units lost their effectiveness.
He said that the problem could be solved via the introduction of CCGT plants.
KYIV. April 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian International Airlines (UIA, Kyiv) saw UAH 387.885 million of net profit under international financial reporting standards (IFRS) compared to net loss of UAH 504.923 million a year ago.
According to an annual report of the company, net revenue last year grew by 36%, to UAH 17.829 billion.
As reported, in 2015, UIA saw a 68.8% fall in net loss, and net revenue grew by 91%, to UAH 13.133 billion.
UIA is the largest Ukrainian airline. It is based in Boryspil International Airport.
One of the ultimate beneficiaries is businessman Ihor Kolomoisky.
Its fleet includes 39 planes, including 35 medium haul planes and four long haul planes.
KYIV. April 27 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine’s Infrastructure Ministry has said that some railway routes for communications with European countries should be launched, Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan said at a government meeting on Wednesday.
“The ministry believes that new railway routes to European countries – Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Germany and Romania should be launched to continue expanding communications with Europe,” he said.
Earlier Ukrzaliznytsia launched the Intercity+ train on the Kyiv- Przemysl (Poland) route. Soon a new two-wagon rail bus Pesa with 182 seats for passengers would start running on the Kovel-Yahodyn-Chelm (Poland) route.
KYIV. April 27 (Interfax-Ukraine) – UBC Group (Kharkiv), a commercial and industrial holding working in the field of refrigeration appliances, will launch the first stage of a refrigerator plant in Vinnytsia in autumn 2017.
“We now have a problem with production capacities. We need new production capacities to increase the market share in Western Europe and America. And we are building a plant in Vinnytsia for this purpose. We bought 11 hectares of land there and rented the same area,” UBC Group President Ihor Humenny told Interfax-Ukraine.
He said at present UBC Group has completed the zero cycle and in May-June will assemble industrial buildings. The facilities are manufactured in Sweden and are assembled on the site as Lego bricks.
“Now plant parts are being delivered to Ukraine. Its assembly will take two months, it will be ready in June. The first phase of the plant will be commissioned this autumn. It is planned that 400 people will work there in autumn, then the plant will expand, and over a year we will bring the number of employees to 1,000,” the expert said.
UBC Group has three factories in Ukraine and offices in 26 countries.
UBC Group also owns a network of Stargorod brewery restaurants in the CIS and Baltic countries.
KYIV. April 27 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Persha Pryvatna Brovarnia, a large brewery in Ukraine, has received a license form Heineken Concern to produce Czech beer Krušovice and will start its production early June.
“This year we received a license from Heineken Concern to produce Krušovice and in a month will start producing this famous Czech beer,” the co-owner of Persha Pryvatna Brovarnia Andriy Matsola said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
He said that usually it takes three or five years to receive the beer production license from Heineken. Persha Pryvatna Brovarnia started negotiations with Heineken in 2012 and at the end of 2015 and early 2016 the brewery launched Heinekel beer production in Ukraine under the license.
“The vice president of Heineken personally flied [to Ukraine] to inspect. The whole structure was inspected: from the head office, retail staff, atmosphere and policy of the company to tests of production facilities. In 2015, Persha Pryvatna Brovarnia was the fourth company in the world that received this license from Heineken, not being in ownership of the concern,” Matsola said.
He said that Heineken does not plant to enter the Ukrainian market.
Persha Pryvatna Brovarnia intends to launch production of hard lemonade at a plant in Radomyshl and enter the cider segment.
“Last year we bought equipment from Germany’s KHS. Now we will bottle our products in 0.44 liter and 0.5 liter cans. The canned beer market in Ukraine is only 6% of the total volume. We assess our market share at 10%, as we are working in the upper mainstream and premium class. We wanted to install a can line a long time ago, but earlier this project was loss-making. Now it is time to realize it,” he said.
Persha Pryvatna Brovarnia was created in 2004. It manages two breweries with a total capacity of 2.4 million hectoliters of beer per year in Lviv and Radomyshl (Zhytomyr region).
KYIV. April 27 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Arricano Real Estate Plc (Cyprus), a managing company and developer of some shopping malls in Ukraine, saw $23.493 million in net profit in 2016 compared to $20.379 million of net loss in 2015.
According to an annual report of the company posted on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) on Wednesday, This turnaround was due to the $11.5 million increase in the property valuation, in addition to the $11 million reduction in operating expenses and the $18.4 million fall in finance costs all contributing towards this improved figure.
Arricano said that in 2016 recurring revenues increased by 13.3%, to $23.1 million (2015: $20.4 million).
Total comprehensive profit for the year was $21.13 million compared to $58.604 million of total comprehensive loss in 2015.
According to the report, the portfolio of assets was externally and independently valued as at December 31, 2016 by Expandia LLC, part of the CBRE Affiliate Network.
The portfolio was valued at $175.663 million (December 31, 2015: $160.31 million), the increase in the value of the portfolio was primarily driven by the increase in rental income and the improved stability of the hryvnia.
Total assets, as at December 31, 2016, amounted to $187.1 million (2015: $173.2 million). This represents an increase of 8% from the previous year.
Net Asset Value as at December 31, 2016 was $24.2 million (2015: $3.1 million), resulting in an Adjusted Net Asset Value per share of $0.23 (2015: $0.03).
Cash balances as at December 31, 2016 including cash equivalents and current deposits amounted to $4.953 million (2015: $3.349 million).
According to the report, total non-current liabilities in 2016 fell by 6.4%, to $52.281 million, while total current liabilities shrank by 3.2%, to $110.647 million.
Arricano said that bank debt at the year-end was $50.1 million, a decline of 16.6% year-over-year. Weighted average number of shares was 103.271 million, and the number of employees at the year-end was 112 people.
By late 2016, Arricano had 27 subsidiaries, including 14 in Ukraine, 10 in Cyprus, one each in Russia, Estonia and Isle of Man.
