On January 20th, 2023, the Energy Community Secretariat and USAID Energy Security Project (ESP), together with the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine, held a conference for potential suppliers of energy equipment to discuss procurements through the Ukraine Energy Support Fund (UESF) to support emergency repairs of the Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
The conference engaged over 200 participants who had an opportunity to learn about the newly established Task Force at the Ministry of Energy (MoE). This group will be responsible for the overall organization of humanitarian aid to the energy sector, and, in particular, will identify the key stages and develop the procedure for the energy equipment procurements by USAID ESP, which acts as an independent procurement agent of the UESF. The procurements by USAID ESP are conducted to ensure transparency, promptness, and efficiency.
The newly established Task Force is to compile and regularly revise the list of the most urgent needs of energy companies. Mr. Safarov informed the participants that the group already adopted the requests for energy equipment worth 107 million euro from thirty beneficiaries under the UESF scheme. Mr. Safarov stressed that in all cases when the proposed cost and delivery terms are proportional, the MoE expects priority would be given to Ukrainian producers and vendors. He called the Ukrainian companies to take a more active role in the procurement process and thus support the country’s energy sector and the Ukrainian economy at large.
Since the beginning of the russian invasion, the energy system of Ukraine has been the target of 12 waves of massive missile strikes and 14 waves of UAV attacks. These targeted assaults have damaged up to 50 percent of the country’s power networks and caused outages all across the country. The power and district heating companies have an acute need of equipment and materials to repair their facilities and resume stable supplies to their consumers.
The representatives of the Energy Community Secretariat – under the fiduciary management of which the UESF operates – informed the participants of the options for cooperation with potential producers/suppliers of energy equipment.
Option 1: equipment donation → logistic support from the Ukraine Support Task Force.
Option 2: regular commercial contracts to sell the equipment → procurement and funding through the UESF.
“There are significant funds to support the procurement, yet the critical needs of power supply and district heating companies are significant too. The potential vendors may fill in the application form on the website of the Energy Community in order to be included in the list of vendors and thus express their interest to supply the energy equipment according to the companies’ current needs, or the equipment required to provide emergency repairs of the Ukrainian energy system in the future,” Deputy Director of Energy Community Secretariat Dirk Buschle said.
Since the beginning of russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, USAID ESP has closely cooperated with the Government of Ukraine and energy companies to ensure uninterrupted operations of power, gas, and district heating networks. The Project operates as an independent agency to support the procurements for the UESF and helps to promptly purchase and supply the modern equipment needed to restore the Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Based on the requests from energy companies and the specifications of the requested equipment as agreed upon with the Task Force at the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine, USAID ESP will prepare and compile the procurement tender documentation, select vendors, and provide clarifications concerning the specifications of the items to be procured, terms of delivery, funding details, etc.
“All interested parties may express their interest through the official channels of the Energy Community, submit their offers to the electronic address of USAID ESP, or take part in the tenders announced on the ESP website,” noted USAID ESP Procurement and Grants Director Ashley Hunziker.
Note! The Energy Community Secretariat established the Ukraine Energy Support Fund upon the request of the European Commission and upon an agreement with the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine to finance the procurements of the required equipment, fuel, and services for the Ukrainian energy companies. This support will be granted based on the requests from the energy companies as adopted by the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine. The requests are to specify the goods/services required to ensure a stable operation of the energy system of Ukraine. The Fund will enable governments, international financial institutions, other international organizations, and private donors to provide the Ukrainian energy sector with emergency financial support.