News

Unique USAID-developed power storage solution to be implemented with $212 million in World Bank financing

On July 1, a meeting was held of the multilateral working group on REMIT implementation in electricity and gas markets in Ukraine, organized by USAID ESP and the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission (NEURC), which was also attended by representatives of NEC Ukrenergo, Market Operator and GTS Ukraine Operator LLC.

The purpose of the meeting was to get acquainted with ESP’s "road map" for the implementation of REMIT-related IT infrastructure in electricity and gas markets in Ukraine.

The State-owned enterprise “Guaranteed Buyer” has been improving generation forecasts for renewable energy (RE). Support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) provided to the enterprise through the Energy Security Project (ESP) made it possible to significantly progress this work. Cooperation on renewable generation forecasting and planning between the Guaranteed Buyer and the USAID ESP involved Enercast, a German provider of renewable generation forecast technologies. The company operates in 20 countries worldwide and provides forecasts for over 180 GW of installed wind and solar energy capacity.

Following the liberalization of the Ukrainian gas market for households from August 1, 2020, approx. 13 million households have the opportunity to freely choose any natural gas supplier on the market. A relatively fast and consumer-oriented supplier switching process is one of the necessary prerequisites for the development of retail market competition.

On May 27, USAID Energy Security Project held a roundtable on “Auctions for Energy Storage and Resource Adequacy Approaches”, aimed to discuss pending storage legislation and related ways of electricity market balancing.

On May 26, together with European experts and with the participation of the USAID Energy Security Project, members of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Energy, Housing and Communal Services held a roundtable to discuss the principles of legislative integrity and energy market transparency. During the discussion, participants focused on the principles and approaches set out in European Union (EU) Regulation No. 1227/2011 on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency (REMIT) and other parts of the EU acquis. Experts from the EU and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) also analyzed bills aimed at implementing REMIT in Ukraine to ensure market-compatible monitoring and supervision, which is an important step in the development of Ukrainian energy markets.

The USAID Energy Security Project (USAID ESP) will help ten Ukrainian cities develop new district heating (DH) schemes and investment plans to modernize their heating networks. This will be achieved under the program helping municipal stakeholders implement reforms aimed at technical optimization, higher economic efficiency, and the environmental safety of heat supply systems. This program is being implemented by ESP jointly with the Ministry of Territories and Communities Development of Ukraine (MinRegion). The program includes a pilot phase that will involve ten cities and their communal DH companies and then disseminate experience gained across other cities in Ukraine.

The project will sign a partner technical assistance agreement with (і) the city council for the full package of support or (іі) the city council and the local teplokomunenergo; this will be decided at the local level.

Developing district heating schemes creates a roadmap for how best to combine different types of heat in residential settlements and allows to make informed decisions on energy efficiency improvements, ensure energy independence, and reduce contributions to climate change.

Roundtable participants discussed this and district heating schemes’ other benefits as part of “Heat Supply Scheme Development Under the New Methodology: An Important Step Toward the Energy Efficient Transformation of Ukrainian Settlements.” The roundtable was organized by the USAID Energy Security Project (ESP) on April 28 with the support of USAID and the Ministry of Communities and Territories Development (MinRegion).