In its military and economic showdown with Russia, Ukraine is seeking to develop renewable energy in a bid to reduce dependence on Russian gas supplies.
Ukraine consumes about 40 percent natural gas, which is mostly imported from Russia. Renewable energy accounts for only about 2 pc of its energy capacity, with solar at 0.3 percent (130 MW) and wind at 0.2 percent (86 MW).
According to estimates of experts, Ukraine’s renewable energy is expected to grow tenfold by 2020, with total investments amounting to €15 billion. The country will endeavor to develop solar and biomass energies to meet growing demand with swelling population.
To make up for its energy shortage that led to dependence on Russian gas, the Ukrainians are planning to build € 2 billion solar parks with the help of the “Chinese developer China National Building Materials Group” (CNBM) and “New Energy Engineering Co., Ltd”.
Once completed, the combined capacity of the solar parks will amount to 1,000 MW. Several other projects are also in the pipeline. They are expected to add up more power to the 1,200 MW of capacity by 2022.
Ukraine also mulls developing bioenergy which can replace the 3.5 billion cubic meters of gas by 2020 and enable the country to save a lot of money, according to some experts.
However, the development of biomass infrastructure requires about € 3 billion investment.
