NSDC reviews regional energy resilience plans totaling UAH 215 bln – Svyrydenko
The National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) has reviewed energy resilience plans for Ukraine’s regions, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko announced during a briefing following the council’s meeting on Tuesday.
"Our task is to prepare for future heating seasons. Understanding all threats, we must draw conclusions from this winter. Therefore, our objective today at the NSDC meeting was to consider the resilience plans of cities and regions. We primarily heard from frontline regions and major cities; they are our highest priority," Svyrydenko said.
The Prime Minister drew attention to the fact that the city of Kyiv submitted its resilience plan without the signature of the mayor. "It is vital that every city head and every regional head, along with us as the government, bears full personal responsibility for the preparation of regions and cities for the next heating season. They must also be held accountable for the implementation, non-implementation, or untimely execution of these plans," she emphasized.
Svyrydenko noted that by the NSDC’s decision, Kyiv has been granted a one-week deadline to submit a properly formalized plan.
According to her, the resilience plans consist of four core components: protection of critical infrastructure objects with second and third-level defenses, the construction of additional cogeneration capacity, decentralized heat supply, and decentralized water supply.
The Prime Minister added that the total cost for implementing all resilience plans amounts to UAH 215 billion. She also noted that the leadership of Naftogaz, Ukrenergo, and GTSOU presented plans for the protection of their respective facilities.
"Regarding cogeneration, there is a government document defining a strategic goal of 4 GW to be built. Some facilities are already partially equipped with cogeneration units. We currently plan that by the start of the heating season, an additional 1.5 GW will be brought online at the state level. Approximately 400 MW will come from state enterprises, and 330 MW will be provided based on the results of previous tenders for distributed generation. The remainder is expected to come from the private sector, which we want to see actively involved in building cogeneration units," Svyrydenko stated.
She further explained that the NSDC discussed which barriers need to be removed to provide incentives for the private sector to more actively develop cogeneration.
As previously reported on February 23 by Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration Oleksiy Kuleba, all regions of Ukraine have submitted energy resilience plans covering measures to protect critical infrastructure and ensure alternative and decentralized energy supplies.
