Kyiv, 7 March 2019 – A new boiler, operating on agrarian biomass, has been installed in Nevytske village, Uzhgorod district, Zakarpattia Oblast as part of UNDP’s “Development and Commercialization of Bioenergy Technologies in the Municipal Sector in Ukraine” project, which is being implemented with support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Modern equipment will provide balanced heating of the school in western Ukraine, while enabling significant energy and cost savings.

To meet its energy needs, Ukraine uses traditional resources, including natural gas and coal, which account for more than 60 per cent of the national energy balance. With very limited options for domestic fossil energy sources, Ukraine is currently meeting its energy needs by relying on foreign energy suppliers. As a result, the Energy Strategy for Ukraine by 2035 identifies, as one of the priority tasks for the energy sector in Ukraine, achieving energy independence, which can be reached by reducing energy consumption and using alternative energy sources. UNDP is supporting Ukraine’s transition to renewable energy and is promoting use of biomass as a fuel for heat supply. This allows for cities and villages to achieve significant increases in the efficiency of heating and hot water supply for social facilities, including schools, hospitals, kindergartens, and thus reduce costs.

“Use of agrarian biomass allows the local community to reduce the heating costs in public buildings. Based on experience of installing similar boilers in Ukraine, the community in Nevytske will be able to save about 120,000 UAH a year by using local fuel. In addition, replacing electric boilers with biomass ones will also reduce CO₂ emissions, and contribute to the fight against climate change,” said Yevhen Groza, manager of the UNDP/GEF “Development and Commercialization of Bioenergy Technologies in the Municipal Sector in Ukraine” project. 

Installing a new boiler in Zakarpattia Oblast powered by local agrarian biomass, will save village budgetary funds by reducing electricity consumption, and contribute to reduced greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere and mitigation of climate change.

Overall, 13 agricultural biomass boilers were installed in Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Cherkassy and Donetsk oblasts under the UNDP “Development and Commercialization of Bioenergy Technologies in the Municipal Sector in Ukraine” project, implemented with support from the Global Environment Facility.

Background information:

The UNDP “Development and Commercialization of Bioenergy Technologies in the Municipal Sector in Ukraine” project,  implemented with GEF support , aims at reducing greenhouse gas emissions by increasing use of biomass energy as a fuel source for heating and hot water services in the municipal sector in Ukraine. 

Media inquiries:  Yuliia Samus, Communications Team Leader, UNDP Ukraine, yuliia.samus@undp.org, communciations.ukraine@undp.org