Ukraine: Municipal heating transition

Ukrainian cities are about to embark on a municipal heating transition, which can be made more sustainable and efficient through the dialogue with German experts and companies. This transformation process was supported by the development of new strategies and policy recommendations as part of the ‘Ukraine: Municipal heating transition’ project. An additional key focus was sustainable urban development and the establishment of structured cooperation between cities. To this end, the energy and climate protection management system developed by dena has been implemented in two Ukrainian municipalities.

For many years, Ukraine has been undergoing a process of political and economic transformation, which also embraces the areas of energy supply, energy efficiency and urban development. The municipal heating sector in Ukraine is faced with a particular challenge: here, hardly anything has changed since the 1990s. Outmoded production facilities and supply systems, enormous grid losses and general grid instability, energy losses in buildings and minimal urban planning by municipalities result in low energy efficiency.

Improving and modernising the municipal heating supply system was the core focus of the project. As part of this work, a multifaceted contribution was made on many levels. The project was concerned with both boosting sustainable urban development and with the changeover to a municipal heating transition.

The results of the project were published in a comprehensive handbook, which was written in Ukrainian. The ‘Municipal heating transition in Ukraine’ handbook was developed from the work in the two model municipalities in Ukraine and consists of three parts:

Part A presents the overarching findings and recommendations for municipal and political stakeholders at national level and shows what building blocks are needed for a successful municipal heating transition.

Part B lists instruments and specific measures in the fields of action ‘Central heat supply’ and ‘Municipal buildings’.

In Part C, the measures presented in Part B and their implementation in general and in the analysed cities are evaluated with regard to the transformation of the municipal sector in Ukraine and Germany.

The project work also focussed on the introduction of the energy and climate protection management system (EKM) developed by dena in the Ukrainian cities of Pereiaslav and Balakliia. The advantages of the system and recommendations for Ukraine and the results of the cooperation with Pereiaslav and Balakliia were presented in the fact sheet entitled ‘dena-EKM in der Ukraine’ (dena’s energy and climate protection management system in Ukraine).