Dmytro Sakaliuk, an expert in energy management, energy efficiency and renewable energy sources at U-LEAD emphasised that municipalities should actively prepare both for the heating season and for emergencies and unpredictable situations:
As for the rear and supporting municipalities, they might face sabotage and intentional damage to heat, gas and water distribution infrastructure. A checklist with recommendations will be helpful here.
The expert’s main recommendations for supporting municipalities and municipalities at the rear include the identification of the municipality’s capacity for repair works and the procurement of repair materials. Local self-government bodies must be ready to deploy points where people can warm up, determine their location and capacity and purchase equipment for such points. Another recommendation is to raise awareness of the population of the municipality regarding stocking up, saving energy and emergency response.
Municipalities on the contact line or de-occupied municipalities may face a lack of central heating in winter. Dmytro Sakaliuk noted that preparations for such situations should start with urging the population — especially residents of high-rise buildings — to leave the municipality:
Also, water must be drained from the heating systems in multi-apartment buildings and municipal facilities of the municipality. After that, the thermal energy production facilities should be conserved, and all systems in the houses should be switched off and blocked in order to prevent emergencies. And, of course, people who still decided to spend the winter at home despite the lack of heating should work on gathering energy resources.
This topic was discussed during an info session for the municipalities of Donetsk, Luhansk, Poltava, Sumy, Kharkiv and Cherkasy regions organised by the U-LEAD Programme. The purpose of the event was to brief the municipalities on the planning and implementation of wartime energy efficiency measures for a safe and stable energy supply during the heating season.
Denys Tkachov, Head of the Eastern Regional Hub of the U-LEAD with Europe Programme:
Given the war, it is extremely important to help municipalities learn about the possibilities of creating conditions for reducing energy consumption, to provide them with recommendations for planning and implementing energy security measures. This is why the U-LEAD Programme organised a series of events on this topic, involving leading experts. After all, our main goal is to help the local self-government bodies to discharge the powers and duties assigned to them as effectively as possible and to help municipalities provide for the rear, along with our Armed Forces. We all work together toward our victory.