Energy efficiency in municipalities
Project description
Title: Energy efficiency in municipalities
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Ukraine
Lead executing agency: Ministry of Regional Development, Building and Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine
Overall term: 2013 to 2017
Context
Having an adequate and reliable supply of energy is of huge importance to the population of Ukraine, yet in the winter months in particular this cannot always be guaranteed. However, if the country used locally available energy sources efficiently, this alone could lead to greater energy security and higher economic efficiency. Municipal and regional administrations are particularly well placed to assume a leading role in the implementation of measures to improve energy efficiency. To do this, however, they require suitable organisational structures, appropriately trained staff and adapted energy management systems.
Objective
The municipalities have established themselves as a driving force behind the implementation of measures to increase energy efficiency.
Approach
At both regional and local level, the project supports four consortiums – joint ventures between municipalities – across all areas of the country: the Dnipropetrovsk regional council comprised of four municipalities; Chernivtsi with three municipalities; the Poltava regional administration with four municipalities; and Zhytomyr with four municipalities and the city of Sievierodonetsk.
The consortiums are advised by a pool of international experts on how to introduce appropriate energy management. This enables the municipalities to steer energy consumption and to plan and implement local measures to improve energy efficiency.
Basic and further training on the topic of energy efficiency is provided for employees of the municipalities; the experts support the implementation of energy efficiency measures. The acquired knowledge and lessons learned are shared with regional, local and national decision-makers at municipal and political level and integrated into the nationwide policy dialogue on promoting energy efficiency.
Results
Ten partner municipalities joined the European Covenant of Mayors initiative for local sustainable energy and are developing and implementing action plans for sustainable energy use geared to achieving the European 20-20-20 targets.
The city of Myrhorod, for example, has switched its street lighting to energy-efficient light sources and even solar power in places. One of the city’s nursery schools has undergone a comprehensive energy retrofit and a solar water heating facility has been installed. Similar projects were implemented in Chernivtsi and Zhytomyr, and in other cities are in preparation. In the regional hospital for war veterans in Dnipro, consultation and support was provided for energy-efficient modernization of the heating system.
Intensive training activities in Germany and several study tours provided professional training for 60 city employees in the field of energy efficiency and energy management.
Since the launch of the project, there have been over 100 dialogue events in a wide variety of formats, at which partners were invited to exchange experience and experts gave presentations on a range of municipal energy issues.