Policies help municipalities to save energy without losing the quality of services, to become energy-independent and energy efficient. The participants of the fourth module of educational and advisory events of the series “Energy Security of Municipalities” learned about its varieties and practical application.
According to Yuliia Molodozhen, Head of the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in the Odesa oblast, the idea of securing an energy-independent municipality is relevant not only during the war, but also when working out future development policy.
“It is important for municipalities to move towards saving and energy efficiency. Energy projects are costly, but there are a number of foundations and donor organisations ready to support them along the way. And in order to win the trust of partners, they must have policies and action plans,” she said.
According to U-LEAD’s expert, Andrii Barulin, when developing policies, the specific nature of the localities that underwent changes during the full-scale invasion should be taken into account. For instance, in the municipality, infrastructure facilities may have been destroyed or the population may have increased, resulting in energy consumption.
Consider the experience of Latvia, which has implemented the energy efficiency policy and ranks 2nd among the EU countries in terms of the number of renewable energy sources (RES). In the 2000s, the country was completely dependent on fuel imports and supply.
“They developed long-term plans for the transition to RES: an increase of 35% in 2000, 51% in 2020 and 60% in 2030. Having started with straw for heating and heat production, Latvia proceeded to actively use local resources, which increased the employment rates. So far, more than 25% of buildings in the country have been thermally modernised. In addition, wind energy is used there, as well as thermal energy produced by waste incineration plants. In a little more than 20 years, the energy consumption system in the country has been completely changed,” said Mr Barulin.
The expert reminded the participants about the following energy documents:
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action plan for sustainable energy development and climate,
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local energy plan,
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energy development policy,
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energy saving programme (energy efficiency programme, other local programmes),
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municipal energy plan,
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comprehensive plan for the spatial development of the municipality,
heat supply development plan.
He noted that if a municipality has several plans or programmes, they should be reconciled and mutually interactive.
The cases of developing documents for the Chortkiv municipality and the interactivity of documentation in the Lviv municipality were presented at the session.
Andrii Barulin stressed the importance of developing a municipal energy plan (MEP). After all, every municipality must have this document in a year and a half. As part of the support from U-LEAD, up to 48 municipalities from all oblasts of Ukraine will be selected and expert support will be provided for the development of MEPs. Support includes information events as well as group and individual consultations.
