The Austrian-Italian consortium and the State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving of Ukraine (SAEE) have launched a new one-year EU-funded Twinning project “Renewables Development in Ukraine” to promote sustainable development of renewable energy in Ukraine. Under the project, the EU experts will advise the SAEE and other relevant stakeholders on aligning the Ukrainian legislation with the EU energy acquis, share the lessons learned in the EU on how to increase the share of renewables, to boost “green” investment. This was announced at the Kick-Off Conference in Kyiv on May 20, 2019.
“The EU is now leading the way in the global clean energy transition. Our Member States have experience in supporting the sustainable development of energy from renewable sources and in identifying the best ways for integration of renewables in the energy market. We are eager to bring this experience to Ukraine and to help Ukraine in creating the necessary framework conditions for unlocking its huge potential in renewable energy,” Johannes Baur, First Counsellor, EU Delegation to Ukraine, said.
The project partners will jointly draft amendments to Ukrainian legislation to align it with the provisions of the EU Renewables Directive and will work together on the implementation of the Government`s action plans in the area of renewable energy. In particular, the project will prepare a set of recommendations to reduce existing regulatory and non-regulatory barriers in the sector including those related to the availability of information in the public space, will develop guidelines on data collection and will help to improve reporting in the framework of the implementation of the National Renewables Action Plan. Several public workshops and stakeholder events will be organized in the course of the project.
The Twinning project “Renewables Development in Ukraine” is implemented by the Austrian Energy Regulator E-Control, the Austrian Energy Agency, the Environmental Agency Austria, the Austrian Ministry of Sustainability and Tourism and the Italian institute EURAC Research in partnership with SAEE. Its budget is EUR 1 million. The project duration is 15 months.
“Austria has one of the highest shares in renewable energy within the European Union with an ambitious goal of 100% of electricity coming from renewable sources by 2030 – we are very happy to share our experience and knowledge with SAEE,” Wolfgang Urbantschitsch, Executive Director of E-Control, the Austrian Energy Regulator, said.
“Energy independence of Ukraine is a key issue for the national security. Due to legislative changes introduced in the past 5 years, about EUR 2.5 billion have been invested in the renewable energy sector in Ukraine. I am confident that our cooperation with Austria and Italy will be successful. We are interested in EU experience, technologies, innovations and investment to boost renewables,” Sergiy Savchuk, Head of SAEE, commented.
The new EU Directive on Renewable Energy sets a binding target of at least 32% for the overall share of renewable energy in the EU until 2030. Renewable energy in Ukraine has been developing dynamically for the last few years due to legislative changes. The renewable energy share in final energy consumption in Ukraine increased by one and a half from almost 4% in 2014 to 6.7% in 2017. The Government approved the Energy Strategy of Ukraine with a target of 25% of energy coming from renewable sources by 2035.
Background information: Twinning is a tool of the European Union for institutional cooperation between public administrations of the EU Member States and public institutions in a beneficiary country. Twinning projects are based on a peer-to-peer approach bringing together experience and knowledge from the EU Member States and beneficiary countries.
