The USAID Energy Security Project (ESP) informed the State Agency of Energy Efficiency (SAEE) of the portfolio of hydrogen and biomethane projects aimed at supporting Ukraine’s green energy generation capacity and transit to clean energy through the implementation of the European ‘Green Deal,’ improving in such way the country’s energy efficiency and enhancing energy security.
‘In 2021, we supported the development of the National Hydrogen Strategy of Ukraine, working with the Ministry of Energy. Now, USAID ESP has three main activities we’re working on in biomethane: capacity building, legislative, feasibility studies, which are of great importance to Ukraine’, said the Gas team Lead in USAID ESP, Justin Goonesinghe.
The first biomethane project is focused on four practical workshops for the Ukrainian local stakeholders from across the value chain to share knowledge about the technical part of biomethane development projects, sourcing the feedstock, fiber technology, setting the contracts, etc., what is necessary to take biomethane to the next level in Ukraine.
The second is the legislative project to create a favorable environment for the development of the biomethane market in Ukraine, to enable access of Ukrainian biomethane to the gas infrastructure and its export to EU countries, and to allow for integration of Ukrainian biomethane market into the pan-European one, including certificates of origin and guarantees of origin schemes.
‘As the result of this project, USAID ESP will provide the draft of legislation to stakeholders for adoption and implementation,’ said Dmytro Pryshchepa, the USAID ESP lawyer.
The third USAID ESP initiative mainly focused on facilitating biomethane investments and aims to find a transparent, fair, and equitable way to identify projects that can be supported for making the final investment decision for biomethane production in Ukraine.
Anna Zamazeeva, the Head of SAEE, informed that the key issues of the projects presented by USAID ESP are also the priority of SAEE. EU works on the Union database (UDB) for biofuels and bioliquids development (Article 28 (2) and (4) of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) aimed to meet these needs to increase traceability in the supply chain of biofuels and bioliquids in the transport sector, and SAEE would like to ensure compatibility of Ukrainian biomethane market with UDB requirements. To join the EU biomethane market with unimpeded access to Ukrainian businesses and to set up unified sustainability criteria, SAEE seeks support in implementing the EU’s sustainability criteria to Ukrainian legislation to allow recognition of Ukrainian biomethane in the EU market.
SAEE already started to work with the European partner on launching the register for biomethane and will appreciate the support from USAID ESP, helping to make UA legislation compatible, including the guarantees of origin issue, and to launch the Ukrainian national biomethane register at this stage.
Also, in November, SAEE will launch the National Decarbonization platform, which includes the Green University. USAID ESP’s seminars and workshops can also be launched on this platform, said Anna Zamazeeva.
USAID ESP and SAEE agreed to continue cooperation on the discussed issues to improve the conditions for Ukrainian biomethane sector development and integration into the EU market.