EBRD representatives said they were interested in financial support of Ukraine, but stable tariffs should appear in the country. As of today, within the framework of investment support, the Bank can provide 250,000,000 euros. Investing will be possible under one condition – the Ukrainian Government should abandon the retrospective changes to the “green” tariff. In addition, the EBRD requires in no way to change the rules of the game on the Ukrainian market of alternative energy sources.
Such information was voiced by Deputy Director of the European Bank in our country Petrova Marina. The position voiced in relation to Ukraine was fully supported by the head of the Electricity Bank of the Bank Harry Boyd Carpenter.
According to Harry Boyd-Carpenter in our country there is no need for reflexive changes. The expert noted that changes to the tariff would lead to a loss of funds by investors who financed Ukrainian projects in previous years. Boyd Carpenter also noted that the investment should be preceded by the announcement of a specific date for possible changes in the “green” tariff. Investors can then adequately assess the risks and payback periods of the projects. After the project is launched, such changes and amendments are simply not allowed.
Petrova Marina remarked that the retrospective tariff reduction drastically reduced the investment attractiveness of Spanish and Italian RES projects. This happened immediately after the auctioning of the energy market.
According to analytical data, the decline in the number of investors in Italy and Spain was caused by a direct change in the rules of the game. According to Marina Petrova, our country has to bring constant tariffs to new and already existing investors, that it is possible to do business here and expand the horizons.
Only this approach will allow an increase in the share of alternative energy from year to year. If there are retrospective changes to the tariffs, then investors will not have to deal with unreliable obligations of the country.
Harry Boyd-Carpenter also said that the introduction of auctions will make electricity from RE even cheaper. The process of establishing prices in Ukraine will become impossible at that.
“Green” auctions cheapen energy and it is profitable on a countrywide scale. But a more rational solution would be to set a tariff that would make it more profitable for the consumer to buy energy, and the Government would gradually come out of the process of establishing value. In addition, this option allows you to set control over the volumes of electricity from the Government.
The EBRD is not the only entity seeking to finance Ukrainian alternative energy. It has become known that Finland has allocated 6 000 000 euros in order to implement new projects in Ukraine.
The allocated amount will be at the disposal of the Finnish-Ukrainian Trust Fund. Within five years, this organization will distribute funds to various projects within our country. The Foundation was founded last year when the President of Ukraine visited Finland.
As the coordinator of the Finnish-Ukrainian Trust Fund, the State Department of Energy Efficiency is in favor. The mission of the fund is to support municipalities and developers in developing technical and economic feasibility studies for new alternative energy projects.
Our country is fast and confident in energy independence. At the state level, some processes are very slow, but the prospect is obvious, especially for foreign investors.
