Roadtrip PIB biobased energy in Ukraine

Memorandum of Understanding

On March 21, 2018 a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the State Agency for Energy Efficieny (SAEE) and the Netherlands Enterprice Agency (RVO). With the MoU the parties expressed their willingness to support sustainable development and sustainable energy, exchange information on realizing renewable energy and to bring companies and industries from both countries into contact to realize business in this area. The roadtrip was exactly about that.

First stop: Odessa

Ukraine, where agriculture is the most important economic sector, provides many opportunities for biobased energy. Odesa region with its south location, black sea coast line and the strong agricultural production and processing industries has a huge potential for renewable energy development. Local companies attending the event got an opportunity to learn about Dutch technologies and see how to get more value out of biomass that Odessa region has available.

The PIB also presented itself on local television: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTGlT94cpkY

The video is in both Ukrainian and English.

Second stop: Vinnytsia

Vinnytsia is in the heart of Ukraine. It ranks amongst the top regions for favorable business climate and was the first in Ukraine to establish a Regional Development Agency that is aimed at the formation of investment attractiveness, and raising funds in social and economic development of the region.

The total farmland area is 2,0 mln hectares, including 1,7 mln hectares of arable land. Dominantly it is the high-quality black soil.

The region produces 7.5% of gross agricultural production in Ukraine and rankes the first place by volumes of gross agricultural output, and the second place by volumes of meat production.

Dutch solutions

Solutions offered by PIB members included: 

- heat and electricity generation by KARA biomass boilers and CHP (Willy Bijen),

- bioethanol production via direct processing with betaprocess designed by DSD (Hans van Klink) and

- production of liquid biofuel / pyrolysis oil via fast pyrolysis technology developed by BTG-BTL (Gerhard Muggen) together with Technip (Jacco Kroeze).

Dutch Biobased Energy roadtrip also included the separate sessions on energy potential of crop residues after harvesting, presented by Professor Elbersen from Wageningen University, and the seminar on Dutch bioenergy policy, presented by Mr. Kees Kwant, Senior Bioenergy Expert of the Dutch Enterprise Agency (Ministry of Economy Affairs of the Netherlands).

For more information about all partners in the PIB biobased energy Ukraine please visit the website http://www.biobased-ukraine.nl/en/partners.html where you can also find the contact details of liaison Kateryna Kyrsta.

Third and final stop: Ternopil

It was the third time for the agricultural team of the embassy to visit Ternopil this year. During earlier meetings the local administration expressed their interest in biobased energy due to the large potential for bio ethanol but also for other renewable energy solutions. A 100 participants from the region joined in the event which showed the interest of the Ukrainian counterparts. The embassy will be back again in Ternopil on 25 & 26 June for the general trade mission headed by the ambassador. You can visit the event page for more information, including investment and business information of Ternopil region.

Latest developments in EU

The Ternopil event also proved to be a very useful event to share the latest news about the adoption of the Renewable Energy Directive II (REDII) by the European Parliament on June 13. In REDII it is stated that in 2030, 32% of all energy must be from renewable source, palmoil will be faced out as of 2023 as a use for biofuels and there will be less possibilities for EU Member States to provide support for farmers to grow foodcrops for energy.

RED II clearly shows the direction the EU is headed, to be taken into account not only by the energy sector in the EU and their investors, but also by the energy sector in Ukraine.

Support SAEE and local administration

We would like to thank the SAEE and all regional and local administrations for their support for this roadtrip. It proved to be a succesful concept to share both Ukrainian and Dutch policy, the support that is given and the technical solutions that can be offered. Ukraine and the Netherlands both share the challenge to substitute import of gas, use less internal gas reserves and are committed to the Sustainable Development goals and the Paris Climate Agreement.

Please visit the website of the SAEE http://saee.gov.ua/en for more information and for a link to the interactive map of investment energy effiency.

Company visit Agroprodservice

On June 14, the PIB biobased energy together with the agricultural team of the embassy also took the opportunity to visit an agricultural company in Ternopil region: Agroprodservice. The company is active in many areas such as crops (40.000 ha), meat processing, dairy & pig farm, feed, apple orchards and have their own chain of shops where they sell their products. For more information visit their website http://agroprodservice.com.ua/en/. We would like to thank Vasyl Tomchishin for the hospitality and the extensive tour around the company.