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participation of the Prime Minister.”
Ukraine plans to disconnect from the Belarusian and Russian energy systems by the end of 2023 and integrate into the European one, the country's Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said on February 23 reported Tass. His comments follow from acting Energy Minister Yuriy Vitrenko who made similar comments last week. Both comments come after Ukraine imported more power from Belarus in just January than it did in all of 2020. Ukraine is close to an energy crisis as coal supplies to run its own power plants have fallen to dangerously low levels as a result of an especially cold winter. At the same time Belarus’ new Ostrovets (aka Astravyets) nuclear power plant (NPP) went online at the end of last year and reached 100% capacity in January. The Russian designed and built NPP produces far more power than the small republic needs and the hope was always to earn some extra cash from exports.
9.1.10 Renewables sector news
Currently, the green power production in Ukraine reached only 8%. To compare, in Germany it was six times higher in the first three quarters of 2020; in Denmark, 44% of electricity is supplied by solar and wind power plants.
According to the State Agency for Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving of Ukraine (SAEE), a total of $8.1bn has been invested in the country's renewable energy as of the beginning of 2021. Meanwhile, the International Finance Corporation estimates that the country's green finance market will reach $73bn by 2030.
At the same time, the country's green producers are facing one major challenge – the Guaranteed Buyer, the state company that is obliged to buy power from renewable developers, has fallen around 810mn dollars behind in payments as of February 1, Interfax reported. The debt was mostly accumulated before August 1, 2020, and the companies still have not received money for green electricity produced by their solar and wind farms.
Ukraine is preparing for Europe’s new green deal. President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Dec.12, 2020 during the online discussion at the International Climate Ambition Summit that Ukraine’s goal is to reduce greenhouse emissions by almost 65% compared to what the country had in early1990’s.
According to preliminary estimates, Ukrainian businesses will have to spend 6.5bn euros to meet the new standards proposed by the European Green Deal, including 2.2bn euros to cut usage of diesel fuel, 2.6bn euros to invest into environmentally friendly land management, and 1.4bn euros for sustainable production.
9.1.11 Metallurgy & mining sector news
Ukraine’s steel production could increase by as much as 6% this year, to 21.8mn tons, according to a study prepared by the GMK centre, a metals industry analytical and consulting group: “Forecast of Steel Production in Ukraine in 2021.” By reorienting exports to China, Turkey and Southeast Asia, Ukraine’s steel sector ended 2020 recording a 1% drop in production, but
58 UKRAINE Country Report March 2021 www.intellinews.com
