Ukraine: European investors to develop renewable energy project in next five years

European investors in the next five years will be injecting their funds in the development of renewable energy sources (RES) rather than in the construction of traditional generating facilities working on fossil fuels, according to representatives of gas companies surveyed by British-based Gas Strategies Group at the European Autumn Gas Conference (EAGC 2012).

According to the survey, 42% of gas industry representatives believe that the lion’s share of investment will go to the wind power sector, 28% to the solar power industry, 13% consider coal-fired generation as most promising, 11% chose the gas sector, and 7% nuclear power generation.

Compared to the findings of a similar survey conducted a year earlier, opinion has changed greatly: a sharp increase in support was demonstrated for solar energy (its supporters grew from 4% to 28%), and the attractiveness of coal-fired generation also grew from 2% to 13%. A certain increase was shown in nuclear energy: from 5% to 7%, while the attractiveness of wind farms slightly dropped from 52% to 42%, and support of gas generation plunged from 37% to 11%.

As reported, with reference to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, global investment in renewable energy development in 2012 stood at $268.7 billion, with solar energy attracting $142 billion in investment and the wind power sector $78.3 billion.

The renewable energy sector in Ukraine in the past year and a half is also evolving rapidly compared to the development of non-renewables. By the beginning of 2013 the total number of companies operating power plants based on renewable energy sources and selling electricity at feed-in tariffs has risen to 80, and the number of such power plants has grown to 133, of which 39 employed solar energy.

Ukraine has built one of Europe’s largest solar power plant, Perove, whose capacity exceeds 105 MW, and a large wind farm, Botiyevska, with a capacity of 90 MW. More than 4 GW of renewable energy capacity has been scheduled for commissioning in the next five years.

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