On February 6-7, 2016 at Kyiv competition “1991 Open Data Incubator” Ukrainian Association for Innovation Development (UAID) presented the project “ESCO”, dedicated to energy efficiency.
This involves upgrading of lighting systems, power generation facilities, and infrastructure. Ukrainian and foreign companies began to fund a number of “pilot projects” and are ready to continue this practice in the future.
Presented IT-project aims to attract investors interested in reducing energy consumption up to 40% of their initial value. According to domestic and foreign analysts, the number of objects that are subject to this modernization in the fund of municipal and public facilities in Ukraine is 80-100 thousand. These are primarily kindergartens, schools and hospitals, which are financed from the state budget.
According to Internet Project mentor Yevgeniy Sarantsov, with energy modernization across the country completed, we can expect a significant reduction in the annual consumption of gas and electricity. To achieve this, we decided to create a single register of municipal/public facilities.
Until now, there has not been a single resource like this in Ukraine, and complete unbiased information had to be collected from multiple sources, or queries had to be written. Creation of such a database makes it possible to talk about the organization of the market and the transparency of conducted tenders. Development of ESCO-portal will make it easy to communicate and engage all participants in the energy market, namely, the ministries, departments, local authorities with investors and producers.
If there is a single source with a high degree of disclosure of the primary information, as well as the placement and promotion of a large number of educational and informational materials, the likelihood of the intersection of counter agents of common interests and the signing of cooperation agreements greatly increases.
On the portal esco.org.ua the information about current market trends, current draft laws and changes in the existing legal framework is planned to be posted. The first nationwide electronic database will contain the most representative cases in view of Ukrainian and international experience. The focus of these materials will be placed on the ratio of capital intensity of project, efficiency, and payback period.
The list of the most relevant events relating to energy efficiency issues, which should soon be held in Ukraine and neighboring countries, will also be specified.
During the current year, the primary database will include about 20 thousand objects of communal property, where energy modernization is required. These data will be structured in such a way that every interested investor can independently calculate the initial assessment of the investment attractiveness of the selected object. By 2020, the developers plan to bring to the market about $200 million of investment.
The project has successfully passed several stages of the competition in IT-startups contest and is ready to continue the struggle for the immediate realization. Already on “1991 Open Data Incubator” competition we have met potential partners, and in the near future meeting with several interested large investors are planned to take place.
For all Ukrainians who are at the stage of rethinking of the realities and in anticipation of changes, it becomes indicative that the government, private sector, and civil society are embarking on to discuss the partnership. Therefore, it pleases that diversified cooperation has already begun, and the merging of different elements makes it possible to build a new Ukraine.