London to strengthen Ukrainian energy security with £62 million
The Ministry of Energy of Ukraine and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office of the United Kingdom have signed a memorandum of energy partnership that provides for the creation of the Innovate Ukraine fund worth £62 million.
This was reported on the British Parliament’s website.
The document, signed by the Minister for Energy of Ukraine Herman Halushchenko and UK Minister for Europe Leo Docherty, has been concluded on the sidelines of the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2023, which is currently taking place in London.
The newly created 'Innovate Ukraine' green innovation fund, aims to strengthen Ukraine's energy security by restoring and technologically upgrading the Ukrainian energy infrastructure. The initial contribution will be £10 million, with the rest of the funds to be disbursed gradually until 2025.
"Cooperation with our British partners will allow us to modernize our energy system and strengthen its resilience to military threats, as well as create the basis for the green energy development. In the nearest future, under this program, the Ukrainian energy sector will receive additional resources to repair and restore damaged infrastructure," said the Minister for Energy of Ukraine.
The British side agreed to support the Ministry of Energy within the framework of both the new Clean Energy Partnership and the Ukraine Resilience and Energy Security (URES) program.
According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy, the parties agreed to "technical cooperation grants within the framework of official development assistance" and to facilitate trade and investment in the following areas: small modular nuclear power plants, green hydrogen, renewable gases, solar micro/mini-grids, solar systems for small households, energy efficiency, and onshore and offshore wind power.
Experts believe that Ukrainian energy potential in green energy can help countries in the European region overcome the unprecedented energy crisis. In 2022, when Ukraine joined the European power grid, the cost of Ukrainian electricity was three times lower than in EU member states.
Last year, after the Lugano Conference on Ukraine's recovery, the volume of potential future investments in Ukraine's Energy Independence and Green Deal national program was estimated at $130 billion.
As part of the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2023, which is currently taking place in London, Washington has provided $1.3 billion, $657 million of which will be used to reconstruct Ukrainian critical infrastructure destroyed by Russian missile attacks. At the same time, France has also joined Ukraine's critical infrastructure reconstruction efforts by allocating 40 million euros for immediate reconstruction this year.