HELSINKI. Jan 25 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Finland which spends five times less than Ukraine on heating its housing sector, will provide Kyiv with the technical solutions to improve energy efficiency, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Regional Development and Construction, Housing and Utilities Hennadiy Zubko told Interfax-Ukraine.
“We will work on the memorandum in two areas: the first is the development of renewable energy and the second area is the introduction of the best technical solutions to save energy,” he commented on the signing of the memorandum between Ukraine and Finland on cooperation in the areas of energy efficiency, renewable energy (‘green energy’).
Zubko clarified that these modern technical solutions will be used in the framework of the Energy Efficiency Fund, which is being created.
According to him, the two governments will establish two working groups, which in addition to technical solutions will also be engaged in the issues related to standards, which Ukraine needs to improve its energy efficiency. The first such working group will arrive in Ukraine already on February 7-8, the deputy prime minister said.
He recalled Ukraine and Finland established a very close relationship within the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO) program, which implements municipal projects in Ukraine on heating system modernization and energy efficiency, in particular, the insulation of schools, kindergartens and the modernization of public utilities. According to Zubko, the loan portfolio of NEFCO in Ukraine totals EUR 44 million, which are supported by EUR 16 million grant funds.
