Water utilities account for about 3% of Ukraine's total energy consumption: IX Lviv Eco Forum

This was one of the opening phrases of the second day of the Lviv Eco Forum, which took place on October 1 and 2 as part of Ukrainian Resilience Week. The forum has been held annually in Lviv since 2015. The discussions revolved around the functioning of water utilities and their facilities in the face of blackouts, alternative sources of electricity, and tariff setting at enterprises.

“Water utilities can turn from being one of the largest consumers of electricity into one of the largest producers, because the territories allocated to water utilities in Ukraine are sufficient for the construction of large SPPs or wind farms,” said Svyatoslav Pavlyuk at one of the panels, who is the chairman of the supervisory board of Lvivvodokanal.

In addition, in the Ukrainian context, SPPs are becoming a security factor for the city's water supply, not just contributing to energy savings. However, an important condition for attracting investment is the establishment of an energy management system at the level of utilities, not just at the level of municipality. A good example of how this works is Chornomorskvodokanal, which shared its experience at the forum. A well-established energy management system will help the company build trust with foreign donors, who often require a so-called “feasibility assessment” of fundraising.

For investments, water utilities can attract various instruments: grants, government loans, and private investments, including ESCO contracts. Anna Zhovtenko, Energy Efficiency Project Manager at UNDP Ukraine, spoke about this instrument.

The ESCO contract is based on a business model, so it will have both pros and cons for communities. The advantages include the rapid implementation of the project and the direct interest of the company responsible for it. Among the disadvantages is that this option will not be the cheapest compared to grants or loans.

In today's environment, the proper functioning of water utilities in Ukrainian communities is an element of municipal sustainability. Therefore, it was valuable for representatives of Ukrainian water utilities to learn from the experience of Aarhus Water (Denmark), which invests 50% of its revenue in the digitalization of the company.

The event has become a platform for finding new solutions and sharing opportunities between representatives of utility companies and local governments of Ukraine and European cities and foreign initiatives that are ready to help Ukraine. Based on the results of the All-Ukrainian Sustainability Week, the organizers will draft a resolution summarizing the event, so stay tuned.