By Swann Bigot, legal expert and consultant in international affairs, for Eurasia Network – October 22, 2017

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Wind turbines, May 2017 – Source : S. Bigot

The Ukrainian company Vindkraft Tavriya LLC launched on September 29, 2017 the first stage of a wind power plant project located in the Novotroitskoy district, in the Kherson oblast. The 41 MW wind farm is going to be upgraded up to 70 MW and is expected to become one of the three largest and most powerful in the country, revealed the Ukrainian State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Saving.

The project benefits from the financial support of Ukrgasbank. The Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas has supplied 12 wind turbines V126-3.45 MW.

The Chairman of the Ukrainian State Agency of Energy Efficiency Sergey Savchuk, who took part in the opening ceremony, explained that the country has benefited from a fast development of renewable energy industry over the past few years. Indeed, 121 MW of renewable energy capacity was installed in 2016, four times higher than in 2015. Furthermore, 166.1 MW have already been installed during the first 7 months of 2017, which is more than for the whole last year.

Besides, more than 700 million euros have been raised since 2014 in new renewable energy capacities in Ukraine.

Read also : A 200 MW wind farm to be built in Southern Ukraine

Regarding the Kherson oblast, this region is one of the leaders in renewable energy. As of August 1st, 2017, it hosted 23 power generation facilities based on renewable energy sources: 18 solar farms with a total capacity of 68.4 MW and 4 wind farms will a total capacity of 34 MW, reported the Ukrainian State Agency of Energy Efficiency.

Foreign investors

More and more foreign investors are interested in renewable energy project in Ukraine, like Chinese energy companies. Sergey Savchuk met on October 6th with representatives of China Nuclear Energy Technology Corporation Limited (www.cnetcl.com), its subsidiary CNI Energy Engineering Co. Ltd. (www.cninj.com), as well as the U.S. company BGR Group (www.bgrdc.com), revealed the Ukrainian State Agency of Energy Efficiency.

The Chairman of the State Agency told the foreign parties that the legislation regarding the renewable energy market has been significantly improved over the past three years in Ukraine in order to support foreign investment.

The representatives of the foreign companies then spoke about their experience in the renewable energy sector and explained why they think about investments in the Ukrainian market.

Note that CNI Energy Engineering Co. Ltd. claims to have already implemented many renewable energy projects. Among its achievements would be the installation of 140 solar farms with a total capacity of more than 3 GW or the registration of more than 30 new technologies patents in this field.

The Ukrainian State Agency of Energy Efficiency released that it will provide information on the current legislative incentives and potential projects renewable energy. Also, the parties will work on the signature of a memorandum of cooperation to promote the development of renewable energy in Ukraine.

Read also : Wind power plants totaling 140 MW to be built in Southern Ukraine

Towards 11% of renewable energy sources  ?

Ukrainian authorities support the development of the renewable energy sources as an opportunity to increase the energy security of the country and revive the national economy after years of recession, provided necessary equipment is produced locally.

Government has set the goal to increase renewable energy share in the Ukraine’s power mix to 11% by 2020, a target which underscores the country’s future potential.

Note that from 2013 to 2016, wind power capacity in Ukraine has increased by 1.7 times (from 194 MW in early 2013 to 525 MW by the end of 2016).

The largest wind power plant in Ukraine is currently the Botievskaya wind farm with a capacity of 200 MW, built by the energy company DTEK in 2012-2014 in the Zaporozhia oblast, a region with a good wind exposure and large available lands. The plant started to generate electricity in 2012 with 30 wind turbines while 35 other wind turbines were added in 2014. All the 65 turbines were manufactured by the Danish company Vestas. The total investment in this major wind power plant then amounted to EUR 340 million.

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© Copyright 2017 – Swann Bigot, legal expert and consultant in international affairs.

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