Georgii Geletukha on Renewable Energy 2020 of Central and Eastern Europe

On October 20, UABIO Head of the Board Georgii Geletukha took part in the 12th Sustainable Energy + SOLAR Forum and Trade Show of Central and Eastern Europe.

The large-scale event brought together experienced RES experts in both offline and online formats.

UABIO Head of the Board Georgii Geletukha was a moderator of the session “RENEWABLE ENERGY OF CEE 2020: What should the Ukrainian renewable energy industry expect from the regulatory policy and how that may impact the sustainable energy goals of the CEE”.

Also in his speech, Georgii Geletukha for the first time publicly presented the results of the Roadmap for Bioenergy Development of Ukraine to 2050, developed under the EBRD and GEF program “Ukraine: Sustainable innovations in value chains in bioenergy” (EBRD program manager — Kyrylo Tomliak).

• Presentation of the Roadmap for the Development of Bioenergy in Ukraine to 2050. Georgii Geletukha – UABIO Head of the Board (in Ukrainian)

UABIO Head of the Board started the section with a demonstration of the main trends of world bioenergy.

How was this year for the world and Ukraine?

World indicators

1. The EU has officially approved a plan to turn Europe into a zone with zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 (Green Deal). It is planned to invest about 1 trillion euros in its implementation. Investing in the Green Deal is seen as the most effective way out of the economic crisis caused by COVID-19.
2. New record indicators of energy production from RES have been achieved.
3. Coal and nuclear energy consumption continue to decline.
4. The world once again broke temperature records. A maximum number of natural disasters (droughts, storms, fires) for today was recorded. In Death Valley National Park, California, the highest temperature during the fixation period at 54.4 ° C was recorded.

The situation in Ukraine

1. Work on the “Concept of Green Energy Transition” – a government document aimed at the transition of Ukraine’s energy to use up to 60% of RES in 2050 – has been suspended.
2. A record debt for electricity produced from RES was achieved – about UAH 22 billion (as of August 1, 2020). The current payment schedule is not running.
3. An appeal was submitted by a group of people’s deputies to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine regarding the unconstitutionality of certain provisions of the laws on “green” tariffs.
4. Energoatom’s plans to complete two units of the Khmelnytskyi NPP by 2025 have been announced.
5. More than UAH 3 billion was spent on subsidies to support the coal industry. The budget for 2021 plans UAH 4.5 billion for these needs.
6. None MW of shunting generation or energy storage has been built, and no effective mechanism has been created to attract investment in this sector.
7. Due to the lack of awareness of many journalists, a negative image of the RES sector has been created.
8. Ukraine is delaying the adoption of more ambitious targets (national defined contribution) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under the Paris Agreement.
9. There are more and more manifestations of climatic skepticism at all levels. Despite the fact that climate change in Ukraine is happening even faster than in the EU. In Ukraine, the average annual temperature has risen by 1.2 ° C over the last thirty years, the world average was 1.0 ° C.
10. Ukraine is beginning to suffer from direct economic losses from global warming.

There was an expert discussion on whether renewable energy in Ukraine is moving in the right direction and how to accelerate its development.

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The UABIO team would like to thank the organizers for holding the conference at such a difficult time for the sector! We believe that this event further consolidates the RES sector around the Ukrainian Green Deal.