A significant energy event took place in Kyiv on 17 May 2018 – for the first time a New Energy Forum “Wind and Hydrogen”, organized by the Ukrainian Wind Energy Association and the Energy Association “Ukrainian Hydrogen Council” was successfully hold in Ukraine. The co-organizer was A7 Conferences.
The Forum was attended by 300 delegates from 16 countries – representatives of investment companies, manufacturers of wind power equipment, national and international wind developers, bankers, lawyers. For the first time in the country the Forum was focused on combination of powerful wind energy and unlimited potential of hydrogen energy to ensure a sustainable development of Ukraine energy complex and transition to a modern carbon-free economy.
Key Forum’s speakers included: Oleksandr Dombrovskiy, MP, First Deputy Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Fuel and Energy Complex, Nuclear Policy and Nuclear Safety, Ukraine, Sergiy Savchuk, Head, State Agency for Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving of Ukraine, Maksym Yefimov, MP, First Deputy Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Industrial Policy and Entrepreneurship , Viktoriya Kerelska, Advisor for EU Frameworks, WindEurope, Rodion Morozov, Head of Ecological Projects Department, JSB “UKRGASBANK”, Ben Vickers, Senior editor at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Torsten Wöllert, Team leader, Energy & Environment, Support Group for Ukraine (SGUA), European Commission and Ivan Plachkov, Head of Public Union “All-Ukrainian Energy assembly” and Minister of Energy of Ukraine in 1999, 2005-2006, Gülşah Altıkulaç, Turkish Wind Energy Association.
Oleksandr Dombrovsky, First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Fuel and Energy Complex, Nuclear Policy and Nuclear Safety, said: “Combination of hydrogen and wind energies … is an important mission which forces the entire Ukrainian energy society to look far beyond the horizon. Today we need strong drivers for the “green” energy development. We know that auction system is one of the tools to introduce competitive pricing and technologies in the country. Conducting forums like we have today is extremely important. Ukrainian renewable energy efficiency policy is the driver of economic policy to allow us to concentrate on the dynamic development of high-tech GDP.”
During the panel discussions on the modern development of the national wind energy industry Viktoriya Syromyatova, Director of Wind Power DTEK, Vladislav Ieremenko, General Director of Managing Company “Wind Parks of Ukraine”, Karl Sturen, Managing Director of Vindkraft Group, Maksym Kozytskyy, director of Eco-Optima shared their knowledges and experiences with delegates about the chosen Forum’s theme. Market players also discussed issues related to the transition to a new state support for renewable energy – auctions.
Head of the State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving Sergiy Savchuk presented the concept of future stimulating the development of renewable electric power industry developed by the agency: “Phased introduction of auction system will allow reducing the cost of energy generated from renewable sources and increasing the business competitiveness. The main thing is that the transition to auctions should be balanced and gradual including implementation of pilot projects with further analysis of their effectiveness and subsequent revision of the legislation.” According to the concept, solar projects with installed capacity of 20 MW and higher as well as wind farms with installed capacity exceeding 30 MW are eligible for auctions. It is assumed that the action winners will be able to deliver “clean” electricity at a fixed price for 20 years.
Presentations by representatives of wind turbine manufactures attracted the great attention of the delegates. Igor Nous, Sales Director CIS and EE countries, Vestas, the world’s leading wind turbine manufacturer, Vitalii Sevostianov, Technical Director of MC “Wind Parks of Ukraine”, the first and currently the only national company in the post-Soviet area that produces modern multi-megawatt wind turbines, Michal Glowacki, Director of Operations at Nordex Poland and Larry Wang, Vice President of Chinese company Ming Yang Smart Energy, presented Modern trends in manufacturing wind turbines.
Andriy Konechenkov, Head of the UWEA Board, Vice President of the World Wind Energy Association: “The First International Wind&Hydrogen energy forum aimed at presenting possibilities of increasing the share of renewable energy in Ukraine’s energy balance through the combination of powerful wind power and an unlimited hydrogen energy. Today, renewable energy sources account for two thirds of global investment in generating capacities, as for many countries they are becoming the cheapest source of energy for the new generation. In the European Union, renewables cover for 80% of new capacities, and wind energy will become the largest source of electricity shortly after 2030 due to significant growth of both onshore and offshore wind farms. At the same time, the widespread development of industrial wind technologies in Ukraine, a country with high percentage of nuclears requires the introduction of back-up facilities for the balanced operation of the power system. It is hydrogen energy that could solve this problem”.
The Forum ended with a reception dedicated to the 10-th Anniversary of the Ukrainian Wind Energy Association. Chairman of the Board Andriy Konechenkov awarded the Certificates of Appreciation to the leading wind developers and legal experts of Ukraine – UWEA members in recognition their enormous contributions to the development of the national wind energy sector.
