Ukraine currently has a monopoly on energy in the energy sector. This not only does not contribute to the rapid development of the country’s economy, but also often creates serious problems for remote communities in the Carpathians, where power grids are worn out. Thanks to new technological opportunities, political will and activism of citizens, energy democracy is developing in many countries – a system in which local communities are actively involved in the selection and creation of their own local micro networks of electricity generation with private capital, in particular, through the creation of energy cooperatives. The basis of energy democracy is the technological capacity to generate electricity from disparate, publicly available renewable sources, such as the sun, wind, water or ground heat. In this way, more and more communities are moving towards becoming energy independent. Created models of local micro-networks can be both completely autonomous and connected to common power grids. Such examples are the most attractive for communities living in mountainous areas of the Carpathian region of Ukraine, in particular, remote from regional and district roads, in remote villages and hamlets.
Today in Ukraine there are legal prerequisites for the development and development of models of energy generation with the lowest costs for security of energy supply from local natural resources, which are based on the ideas of energy democracy. The aim of this project is to spread this idea to improve the access of the inhabitants of the most isolated settlements in the Carpathians to quality energy supply services from renewable energy sources.
Territory of activity: Zakarpattia region
Goal: to demonstrate and disseminate the ideas of energy democracy to provide residents of remote communities in the Carpathian mountains with affordable, reliable, sustainable and secure energy by increasing the production of renewable energy.
Results:
- We conducted a series of seminars and consultations in 10 mountain communities on the possibilities of creating their own micro-networks of RES based on existing natural resources (sun, wind and water) with the participation of private capital based on cooperation. The events took place in Dovzhanska, Vilkhovetska, Neresnytska, Velykobychkivska, Tyachivska, Solotvynska, Nizhnevoritskaya, Keretskivska, Dubivska and Kholmkivska territorial communities. We also ran a media campaign among the inhabitants of Zakarpattia on energy democracy and ways to implement it: wrote about american nodel of energy cooperatives, decentralization of energy market services in Germany and about the way to increase the energy independence of communities in Zakarpattia.
As a result, we selected 4 pilot communities – Dubivska, Neresnytska, Vilkhovetska and Nyzhnyovoritska – with which we will continue to work. Together with the locals experts discuss strategic directions for the development of distributed RES generation in communities and improving the energy efficiency of communities. The implementation of ambitious projects requires a Community Development Strategy and relevant programs.
Thus, the NGO “Ecosphera” promotes the ideas of energy democracy in local energy policies of territorial communities. - In July 2021, the NGO “Ecosphera” took part in signing a memorandum of cooperation on the establishment and operation of the Regional Hub “Danube Energy”. In the official part, in addition to the organization’s experts, the Department of Euroregional Cooperation of the Transcarpathian Regional State Administration, the Department of Economic Development of the Uzhhorod City Council, the Transcarpathian Regional Branch took part. Association of Ukrainian Cities, Uzhhorod National University, NGO “Center for European Initiatives”, International Association of Regional Development Institutions “MAIRR”, Agency for Regional Development and CrossBorder Cooperation “Zakarpattia”. Oksana Stankevych-Volosyanchuk, an ecologist at the Ecosphera NGO, presented to the participants the experience of working in the field of sustainable energy. In particular, the prospects for the development of RES and energy democracy in the framework of the project “Energy Opportunities for Transcarpathian Communities”. One of the tasks of the Danube Energy Regional Hub is to lobby the interests of communities in order to attract investment and finance projects in the field of energy efficiency and energy saving. In promoting our ideas, we have gained many partners who also work in the field of energy efficiency.
You can read more about the event on our website: https://ekosphera.org/go-ekosfera-provelamajster-klasy-dlya-ditej-ta-molodi-u-ramkah-regionalnyh-dniv-energii%cc%88/
Partners: USAID Energy Security Project (ESP)
The Energy Opportunities for Zakarpattia Communities Grant Initiative, implemented by the Ecosphera NGO, was made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Energy Security Project (ESP).
The views of the authors do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government.
