The State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving of Ukraine and the Ministry of Energy and Industry of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have signed a memorandum of understanding on energy efficiency and renewable energy. “By cooperating, we will exchange experience and promote the implementation of joint investment projects in the field of energy efficiency, clean energy and garbage processing,” the press service of the Ukrainian agency on Saturday quoted its head, Serhiy Savchuk, as saying.
The State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving of Ukraine says that the UAE is one of the most developed countries of the Persian Gulf, which has set the task to achieve at least 44% of “clean” energy in the country’s overall energy balance by 2050.
In addition, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) whose charter Ukraine has joined is located in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE. What is more, the world’s largest solar park is being built near Dubai. Its projected capacity by 2020 is 1 GW, and 5 GW by 2050.
ENERGY EFFICIENCY, INVESTMENT PROJECTS, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Apartment building co-owners associations are demonstrating a growing interest in energy efficiency measures in 2018 compared to last year, as evidenced by the results of June, the State Agency for Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving has said. “More than 300 apartment building co-owners associations raised UAH 90 mln in energy efficiency loans this June, which is five times [or 80%] higher than last June. Around 90 associations received UAH 18.5 mln in energy efficiency loans then,” the state agency’s press service reported on July 8, 2018.
The agency also said that the monitoring of the program implementation has shown homeowner associations’ greater interest in getting energy efficiency loans as well as their growing trust and confidence in the mechanism of co-financing energy efficiency measures.
Some 930 homeowner associations raised UAH 260 mln in energy efficiency loans over two and a half months in 2018, which is almost twice as much as UAH 140 mln – the sum of money they received for heat insulation projects throughout 2017.
“The apartment building co-owners associations should continue preparations for the next heating season and insulate their houses with the help of energy efficiency loans,” Chairman of the State Agency for Energy Efficiency Serhiy Savchuk said and added that benefits of the loan program included the opportunities to save the costs of energy efficiency measures, reduce utility bills and increase the value of apartments in modernized buildings.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC, the division of the World Bank Group) and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) have signed an agreement to facilitate energy efficiency renovations in Ukraine’s residential sector.
According to a posting on the website of the IFC, Switzerland will provide up to $1.8 million to IFC Advisory Services to support legal reforms that will support energy-efficiency refurbishments by engaging with housing management companies on behalf of homeowners’ associations.
According to the report, the initiative represents the third and the final phase of IFC’s Residential Energy Efficiency Advisory project in Ukraine, which started in partnership with SECO in 2010.
Ukraine, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the European Union and Germany have signed an agreement on the establishment of a fund to improve energy efficiency in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Finance Ministry has reported on its website. “In accordance with the agreement, up to EUR 53 million of financing provided by the EU and Germany will be under the management of IFC at the initial stage,” the Finance Ministry said. The multi-donor fund with the Ukrainian Energy Efficiency Fund will jointly finance energy efficiency projects in apartment buildings in Ukraine and provide expert support for the development of the market, the Finance Ministry said.
According to Finance Minister Oleksandr Danyliuk, the project will contribute to the creation of about 75,000 new jobs for engineers, builders and workers in the energy sector.
Nestle, one of the world’s largest producers of food products, has invested more than UAH 10 million in energy efficiency projects in Ukraine, said CEO at Nestle Ukraine Ansgar Bornemann. “The company has invested more than UAH 10 million in 22 energy efficiency projects in Ukraine. This allowed 8% energy savings,” he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday. The top manager also reported on investing UAH 1 million in 12 projects to install special environmentally friendly equipment. “This allowed us to reduce water consumption by 189 tank wagons at the company’s three factories,” he said. Nestle began operations in Ukraine in 1994 with the opening of a representative office. It markets such international brands as Nescafe, Nesquik, Nuts, Friskies, KitKat, etc.
Germany is ready to allocate EUR 10 million for projects of the Energy Efficiency Fund and EUR 4 million for the training of energy auditors and training of the Fund’s employees, Minister for Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Hennadiy Zubko has said. “The German government is ready to sign an agreement with IFC – International Finance Corporation – on adding additional EUR 10 million to the Multi-Donor Fund for co-financing the projects of the Energy Efficiency Fund of Ukraine,” Zubko wrote on his Facebook page.
He also said that the German government had agreed on the implementation of the project of technical assistance to Ukraine in the training of professional energy auditors and training of the Fund’s employees in the amount of EUR10 million.
As earlier reported, the Cabinet coordinated a joint program with the EU for financing the Energy Efficiency Fund in the amount of EUR 268 million. According to the Ministry of Regional Development’s press service, EU assistance in 2018 will be EUR 50 million, in 2019 – EUR 54 million. The press service also recalled that the financing of the Energy Efficiency Fund from the state budget will be UAH 1.6 billion in 2018.
