Haluschenko: Energy Ministry developing new national plan for reduction of emissions

The Ministry of Energy is developing a new national plan for the reduction of emissions from large combustion plants, Energy Minister Herman Haluschenko has said.

"We are now analyzing everything. The existing plan does not look logical and reasonable. I, for example, cannot understand the reasons why two combined heat and power plants on gas first of all fell under the closure … Therefore, we are now revising all this," he said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

According to him, the ministry, at his request, is conducting an internal investigation to find out why and by whom the decision was made to first close the stations that are in the best technical condition, and those "that are almost falling apart are indicated after 2027."

He also noted that the development of the new plan is being carried out by a joint working group, in which, in particular, representatives of the European Commission are involved.

"Together with Ukrenergo, we are completely reshuffling this list, proceeding from two key points. The first is that we are synchronizing with the EU. The second is that we are closing generation that does not meet the standards," the minister explained.

At the same time, Haluschenko does not support the idea of postponing the implementation of the plan to reduce emissions to 2038.

"I also do not like the proposals to postpone the plan to 2038. They show the scale of emissions: here we are going well, but here we are exceeding. Hence the proposal: to postpone to 2038. That is, we did not do anything, now we see problems, so let's postpone," he said.

As reported, the total cost of environmental measures at thermal power units under the plan to reduce emissions until the end of 2033 is estimated at UAH 4.3 billion. At the same time, the highest volumes of investments in the ecological modernization of TPPs should be made in 2024-2025 in the amount of EUR544 million and EUR636 million, respectively.

In Ukraine, until now, the sources of funding for the plan of emission reduction at TPPs have not been defined.

Source: www.en.interfax.com.ua