Bioenergy Association calls for creation of biofuel exchange in Ukraine
KYIV. Sept 16 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The owners of biogas plants need to create a biofuel exchange to ensure uninterrupted supplies of biomass, Board Chairman of the Bioenergy Association of Ukraine (UABio) Heorhiy Heletukha has said.
"The number of boiler houses and power plants [burning biogas], which today replace the consumption of 4 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year, consumes a huge amount of biomass. Now, unfortunately, we have difficulties with where to buy this biomass, how to buy it... Our biomass market is undeveloped. Therefore, a civilized decision is to create a separate biofuel exchange," he said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.
He said that the respective bill was developed more than three years ago and has already passed approval several times, but at present it is "frozen at the level of the Ministry of Energy" and is not being submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers. "We ask the legislators: well, take this bill, take it from the Ministry of Energy, register, consider quickly. This is the way to how to saturate the bioenergy of Ukraine with real fuel," the head of the UABio said.
According to him, the exchange will ensure the quality of biomass, delivery guarantees and a reduction in the price of this product. "When there is real competition, prices always go down. This is a very important bill. We ask you to support it," Heletukha said.
As reported, the then acting Minister of Energy and current CEO of NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy, Yuriy Vitrenko, supports the development of an electronic platform for the purchase and sale of solid biofuels in Ukraine, contributing to a competitive and transparent market for such fuels.
"The mechanism for organizing the biofuel market in Ukraine should be the use of a single electronic platform on which all interested producers and consumers will trade in biofuels," Vitrenko said at a meeting with Minister of Energy of Lithuania Dainius Kreivys in March 2021. During the meeting, the development of biofuels was noted as one of the promising areas of cooperation between the two countries, while the experience of Lithuania in the creation of the Baltpool biofuel exchange is of special interest of Ukraine.