21.10.2024
A round table was held on the topic: “Sustainability of energy supply of water supply and wastewater facilities in the autumn-winter period 2024/2025”. The event was organized by the Energy Club community in partnership with the Ministry of Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine.
The event was held in an online format. It was attended by representatives of the Government, people’s deputies, experts, representatives of relevant departments, regional authorities and municipal enterprises.
Following the round table, people’s deputy, first deputy chairman of the Energy and Housing and Utilities Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Oleksiy Kucherenko proposed to transfer the discussion of specific voiced problems and proposals to the platform of the relevant committee of the Verkhovna Rada in order to prepare further practical steps.
The key topics of the event were:
In his opening remarks, Valeriy Bezus emphasized the importance of the systematic attention of local governments to the conditions of sustainable energy supply of community life systems, as well as strict adherence to the key principle of “energy efficiency first”.
Serhiy Sukhomlyn, Head of the Infrastructure Development and Restoration Agency of Ukraine, noted that currently the topical topic is ensuring the capacity of water utilities and enterprises that provide water supply.
“Here we need to divide things into tactical, which can be done quickly enough, and strategic. If we are talking about tactical, then these are simple generators that can provide pumping, water purification, and sewerage operation. But if we are talking about strategic, then we are talking about gas piston stations, solar panels, and other means,” emphasized Serhiy Sukhomlyn.
During the discussion, the head of the Restoration Agency drew attention to the need for changes to the legislation on the use of phosphates by consumers and their negative impact on wastewater treatment systems at water utilities, which hinders, among other things, the possibility of installing biogas production capacities at sewage treatment facilities.
An expert on energy efficiency of water supply and wastewater systems Serhiy Karelin drew attention to the fact that for the sustainability and security of the energy system, it is necessary to ensure optimization of water consumption, optimization of the system to reduce costs, as well as autonomy and redundancy of water utility power supply systems.
People’s Deputy of Ukraine Oleksiy Kucherenko noted that tariffs are currently a serious problem for water utilities.
“In fact, any underestimated tariff nullifies any things that we discuss. Therefore, enterprises are looking for other sources of financing. But I am sincerely convinced that every water utility, especially a powerful one, has a huge resource for energy efficiency measures and work optimization. And the question arises why this has not become dominant for such enterprises,” – believes the People’s Deputy.
The mayor of Slavutych Yuriy Fomichev shared the productive experience of the city’s comprehensive energy supply, which should be used by other communities.
The director of JSC “Kharkivoblenergo” Vyacheslav Kravtsov noted that the operators of electricity distribution systems are doing everything they can to provide communities with electricity, but the level of payments for distribution services is currently approaching zero, which threatens the normal functioning of the systems.
The deputy mayor of Slavutych Ternopil Vladyslav Stemkovsky shared the city’s experience in developing a 4-level system for responding to crisis situations in the city’s energy supply.
President of the Association “Ukrvodokanalekologiya” Dmytro Novytskyi drew attention to the challenge of staffing the water utilities:
“Many specialists are mobilized to the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, at the same time there is an outflow of personnel due to low wages and other reasons. If the situation does not change, there will be no one to work at water supply enterprises. Another big problem for water utilities in large cities is the lack of frequency converters at critical infrastructure facilities; without such equipment, enterprises will not have enough capacity to provide electricity in the event of blackouts. There is also a need to allow financing of water utilities from local budgets. All these aspects are important for ensuring the operation of water supply enterprises in the winter period,” – says Dmytro Novytskyi.
Representatives of local authorities and water utilities also joined the roundtable, sharing their own experiences and the problems they face on the ground.
