KYIV. April 7 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Global 100% RE Ukraine expert platform, which brings together the leading associations of the renewable energy industry in Ukraine, plans to launch some pilot projects together with European partners to create decentralized distributed energy systems for territorial communities, Oleksandr Dombrovsky, Board Chairman of the platform, has said.

"We already have preliminary cooperation agreements. I think several starting model territorial communities of various sizes will be selected, where we, together with our German partners, the European Commission in Ukraine, will try to launch pilot projects of energy-independent, energy-safe communities," he said at a press conference on signing a cooperation agreement with German renewable energy associations at Interfax-Ukraine on Friday.

As Dombrovsky said, launching such projects, each of which "will have its own face and specifics," is not an easy task since they will need to integrate various technologies, in particular, solar, bio, wind, as well as energy storage systems and energy efficiency measures.

At the same time, the head of Global 100% RE Ukraine said that now, the centralized energy system built back in the USSR has lost its relevance with the shelling of it by Russian invaders.

"We understood the need to decentralize the energy system: electricity, gas, heat, and have a completely different philosophy and concept of what we call the energy security of Ukraine," Dombrovsky said.

According to him, now a discussion of such projects at the level of territorial communities and ministries, in which, in particular, the German Energy Agency (DENA) is involved, is going on.

As reported, on March 29, 2023, Global 100% RE Ukraine signed a memorandum of understanding and cooperation with Germany's largest renewable energy association Bundesverband Erneuerbare Energie (BEE). It includes associate members Fachverband Biogas e.V, German Wind Energy Association, and BSW Solar.

The main goal of the memorandum is to create and maintain permanent contacts, strengthen cooperation between Germany and Ukraine in the field of renewable energy and climate, develop measures to protect the environment, stop climate change, accelerate the green transition, and develop the export potential of green sectors of the Ukrainian economy.