Every tenth kilowatt consumed by the city’s industry is generated by solar power plants
Due to Russia’s aggression, Ukraine’s industry is facing new challenges in the energy sector. Last year’s blackouts, which affected producers so much, may well happen again this year. And there is also the price factor – electricity has risen significantly during the war, and there is no sign of improvement. Businesses are adapting, stocking up on alternative energy sources and purchasing powerful generators to help them operate during blackouts.
Vinnytsia has developed its own trend of achieving energy sustainability. Namely, the massive introduction of renewable energy sources (RES) in production. As a result, every tenth kilowatt consumed by the city’s industry is “green” because it is produced by solar power plants.
Andrii Ocheretnyi, Deputy Mayor of Vinnytsia, told Ukrinform how this was achieved and why Vinnytsia industrialists benefit from the European Green Deal.
“GREEN” BENEFITS IN VINNYTSIA
Ocheretnyi says that in January 2022, Vinnytsia was the first local community in the country to adopt the European Green Deal. This is the main EU document that lays the foundations for Europe’s enhanced transition to sustainable development and the transformation of all major sectors of the economy and governance. It also affects countries that are important strategic partners of the European Union. This includes Ukraine. It aims to turn Europe into a climate-neutral continent, improve the well-being of citizens, protect biodiversity, and green the economy.
“In particular, it is about the presence of a “green” component in the final products of enterprises. That is, if they use fuel, it should be green hydrogen, and if they use electricity, it should be generated from the sun, wind, and water. Therefore, Ukrainian companies that implement renewable energy sources will be more competitive in the European and global markets.
If we talk about Vinnytsia-based producers working in the export market, they already have a green component due to solar power plants. Over time, it will change and grow. I am convinced that all export-oriented manufacturers should be encouraged to work on implementing renewable energy sources at their enterprises,” the official said.
The deputy mayor says that as part of its support for the European Green Deal, Vinnytsia has introduced its own incentives for manufacturers installing solar power plants.
“In April of this year, the city council launched a municipal compensation program for businesses for installing equipment to generate electricity from renewable sources. First, for microbusinesses, then we extended it to small businesses, and in September – to medium-sized businesses. We have allocated UAH 10 million in the city budget for its implementation.
I would like to note that Vinnytsia City Community is the only one in Ukraine to encourage business to switch to green energy in this way. For this purpose, 30% of the taxes paid by the company to the community budget are allocated, but not more than the actual costs of purchasing alternative energy sources. We have limited the upper limit of compensation to one million UAH,” says Andrii Mykhailovych.
He says that seven Vinnytsia businesses have already taken advantage of this program.
“The companies have already received the funds. We expect that they will use them to reinvest in their production process. It is important that their production processes are now more sustainable, because in winter they will be able to more easily pass possible blackouts,” the official hopes.