The Ukrainian Wind Energy Association (UWEA) and representatives of the national wind energy sector appealed to the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko to address the current situation in the Renewable Energy (RE) sector caused by the National Committee on Regulation of Energy and Utilities Services of Ukraine that remains reluctant to review feed-in tariff for the companies generating energy from the RES in conformity with the existing legislation. As a result the Ukrainian wind business is suffering multimillion-dollar losses.
As previously reported, since August 2014 the National Commission for State Energy and Public Utilities Regulation of Ukraine (hereinafter "Commission") has rejected to revise the "green" tariffs despite the fact that in accordance to the Law of Ukraine on "On Electric Power" green tariffs are index-linked to inflation, i.e. they are subject to a monthly revision based on the EUR/UAH exchange rate.
After several failed efforts to start a dialogue with the Commission, the UWEA has been forced to appeal to the President Petro Poroshenko to urgently address the problem arose simply from the Commission's inactivity.
To date, multimillion-dollar foreign investments have been made in the Renewable Energy projects enabling the industry's rapid development. Renewable energy utilizes the indigenous energy resources, thus eliminating Ukraine's dependence on Russian gas and enhancing energy security and independence of Ukraine.
At the same time there has been an all-out blockage of renewable energy support mechanisms and violation of the current laws in Ukraine. In August 2014 the Cabinet of Ministers canceled exemption from CIT for renewable electricity producers and non-revision of the "green" tariff based on the currency rate resulted in the loss of around 45 million hryvnia for the developers of such projects.
In these circumstances the National Renewable Energy Action Plan adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on October 1, 2014, will never be implemented. This means that no real steps towards energy security of Ukraine will ever be made and investments in the Renewable Energy sector will be stopped.
Information: As of October 1, 2014 the installed capacity of the Ukrainian wind energy sector amounts to 497.5 MW, including 87.7 MW installed in the Crimea. Since 2011, all new wind projects in Ukraine have been put into operation by private investments and about 700 million euros have been invested in wind energy sector.
Find more at www.uwea.com.ua
