Kyiv Municipality plans to swich street lighting to energy efficient LED

Philips will take care about technical part of the project, while EBRD and IFC are going to provide financing. There are more than 180 thousand street lamps to be replaced in Kyiv. Read more >>>
EcoTown
 

Ukrainian government and energy sector reform

According to Prime Minister, Ukraine has taken a number of important steps to reform the energy sector, made success in the fight against corruption, signed open and transparent contracts for purchase of the natural gas from European Union member states and is now looking forward to Western companies' investment in Ukraine's gas transportation system. In reality, however, these statements do not match the actual actions of the government and to most of the Ukrainian gas market players would seem deceptive. In the course of last year Ukraine's private gas producers were doing their best to overcome, if not survive, the consequences of the government significantly increasing fiscal and administrative pressure on the industry without any consultations with the latter, not delivering on its own promises and undermining what was left of any trust to it. Read more >>>
KyivPost
 

Minister of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine met with American-Canadian-European group of energy experts for crisis planning.

During the meeting the participants discussed revision of the Plan for emergency response in the fuel and energy complex, taking into account the situation in the East of Ukraine. Minister asked international experts for assistance in  development of actual and predictable energy balance of Ukraine in the framework of the preparation of the final version of the Energy Strategy of Ukraine through 2030, as well as in  reforming of the natural gas sector of Ukraine. Read more >>>
www.kmu.gov.ua

Poltava to upgrade its district heating system

The city of Poltava in eastern Ukraine and NEFCO have signed a loan agreement aimed at upgrading the city’s district heating system. The demonstration project will enable the renovation of a boiler plant with fully automated gas boilers. Moreover, the project comprises the installation of ten individual heat substations as well as the introduction of pre-insulated piping connecting the substations to the boiler plant. The overall cost for the project is EUR 553,000 and the investment is financed by the municipally-owned company Poltavateploenergo, DemoUkrainaDH and NEFCO. Read more >>>
NEFCO
 

Natural gas consumption in residential and institutional sector was reduced by 14% in 2014

According to the State Energy Efficiency Agency this is a result of implementation of  governmental measures, including introduction of incentives for consumers to replace gas fired boilers with non-gas boilers. Governmental program subsidize 20% of the costs of new non-gas boilers. Read more >>>
SAEE

Steel production in Ukraine in 2014

Steel production in 2014 dropped by 17% and reached 27.2 million tonne. Read more >>>
112.ua
 

Ukraine and the IMF

2014 was a terrible year for Ukraine’s economy. GDP shrank by nearly a tenth. The currency, the hryvnia, fell by more than 50%. As the cost of imports rose, inflation jumped, from 1% a year ago to 25%. In a desperate attempt to prop up the currency, the central bank has been throwing cash at the markets: Ukraine’s foreign-exchange reserves have fallen from more than $16 billion in the middle of 2014 to less than $7 billion. Debt repayments of at least $10 billion, gas-import bills and a lifeless banking sector mean that Ukraine will probably need $20 billion in external support to survive 2015. Read more >>>
Economist
 

Meeting with delegation of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in State Energy Efficiency Agency

During the recent meeting JICA confirmed the continuation of technical and financial assistance to Ukraine in energy efficiency area. Head of State Energy Efficiency Agency emphasized importance of learning and replication of successful Japanese experience. Read more >>>
SAEE
 

Energy utility Kyivenergo plans to increase number of heat meters in appartment buildings by 25% in 2015

Last year Kyivenergo installed 647 heat meters in Kyiv's apartment buildings. It also going to install 1600 more meters this year, what will make 56% of buildings equipped with heat meters. Measurement of real heat consumption by consumers is an important element of municipal energy saving policy. Read more >>>
UNN
 

Wind power production in Ukraine grew up twice in 2014

Wind power plants generated over 1.1 billion kW*hour of electricity last year, or 0.62% of overall power generation. Installed capacity of  wind power plants is about 1% of total generation capacities in Ukraine, 126 MW of new wind power capacities were added in 2014. Read more >>>
ua-energy.org

Ukraine’s economy- on the edge

 GDP is still shrinking. Gas payments, defence and support for the hryvnia, which lost half its value in 2014, have bled the government dry. Foreign-currency reserves fell by a quarter in December, leaving just $7.5 billion, equivalent to only five weeks’ worth of import cover.  The war in the east eats up $10m a day, according to Ukraine’s president, Petro Poroshenko. Ukraine’s debt-to-GDP ratio exceeds 60%. Read more >>>
Economist

Governmental Energy Efficiency Agency is going to create energy efficiency fund

It was discussed by the Agency's Head Serhiy Savchuk and representatives of the European Commission's Support Group for Ukraine at the meeting. According to Serhiy Savchuk, the fund on energy efficiency will ensure rapid and sustainable implementation of financial mechanisms for energy efficiency improvement in Ukraine which are developed by the Agency. The Agency will use the European  experience in the process of designing and running the fund. Read more >>>

SAEE

Correlation of oil price and foreign policy

In December 1979 Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan. The oil price at the time was at its peak of $101 a barrel. Seven years later the Brent crude oil price fell to around $30 a barrel and Mikhail Gorbachev launched the policy of Perestroika (restructuring) and convergence with the West.  Russia’s latest and most serious foreign adventure in Ukraine and its annexation of Crimea took place when the price of oil was still over $100 a barrel.  Read more >>>
Economist

Russia says it will shift gas transit from Ukraine to Turkey

About 40% of Russia’s gas exports transit through Ukraine, which receives billions in transit fees. Now Russia says it will build an offshore pipeline to Turkey and send all this gas to the Turkish border with Greece. Russia will  use funds and materials intended for the original South Stream project, the Russia press writes. Reportedly, some of the pipes are stored in Bulgarian ports. Read more >>>
EurActive

How much natural gas does Ukraine need in 2015?

Natural gas consumption in Ukraine dropped  in 2014 to 42 billion cubic meters, 16%  less then in 2013. Domestic production was over 20 billion cubic meters, or almost half of overall consumption. Im ( port of natural gas decreased in 2014 by 35% . Read more >>>
minprom.ua

Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2014

According to UNEP's report  total investments fell in 2013 by 14% to $214 billion worldwide, reflecting significant cost reductions and the impact of policy uncertainty. Renewables excluding large hydro account for 43.6% of 2013’s newly-installed generating capacity. The number of markets that can compete without subsidies is increasing. Read more >>>
UNEP

Toward Carbon-Negative Power Plants With Biomass Co-firing and CCS

The goal of CO₂ emissions reductions and renewable energy incentives have led some power plant operators to broaden their fuel palette to include various carbon-neutral biomass fuels. Biomass can be carbon neutral because it binds carbon from the atmosphere that is then released when it is burned, minimizing net emissions. Carbon capture and storage (CCS), another potential option to cut CO₂ emissions from the power sector, is currently under extensive research, development, and demonstration globally. CCS is advancing toward commercialization, but there are still hurdles, mostly nontechnical, that are impeding its widespread deployment. Read more >>>
PennEnergy

Import of Russian gas to Ukraine dropped by 40% in 2014

In 2014 Kyiv only bought 14.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) of Russian gas . In total, Ukraine sourced 36 percent of its gas from Russia, 13 percent from the EU, and 51 percent was domestically produced, Ukrtransgaz, Ukraine’s state gas transport subsidiary, said in a statement on Tuesday. Read more >>>
Ukrtransgaz

IPCC Reveals Climate Change Threatens Dangerous and Irreversible Impacts

The new findings come from the Synthesis Report, which distils and integrates the findings of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report released over the past 13 months. This new report confirms that climate change is being registered around the world, and that the warming of the climate system is unequivocal. In fact, since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia. The atmosphere and oceans have warmed, ice and snow cover has decreased, the sea levels have risen, and the concentration of carbon dioxide has also increased. Read more >>>
.scienceworldreport.com