Ernst & Young: Ukraine joined TOP-30 most attractive countries for alternative energy development
Ukraine continues to improve the conditions for the implementation of projects in the field of alternative energy. In three months, the country moved from 30th to 29th place in the ranking «Renewable energy country attractiveness indices: August 2012», published quarterly by Ernst & Young.
Ukraine was first hit into this ranking in 2011, currently ahead of such European countries as Bulgaria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Austria, Finland and other countries. In addition, Ukraine is the only representative of the CIS and former Soviet countries in the ranking.
Moreover, in terms of the solar index, Ukraine ranks even higher - 21st place.
In July 2012, in the first reading the Ukrainian parliament adopted a bill providing a significant simplification of access to the Feed-in-Tariff mechanism. According to Ernst & Young analysts, the adoption of this document could give a powerful impetus to the long-term development of alternative energy in Ukraine, since it will make economically attractive the use of renewable energy by households. In particular, the installation of solar panels in households and, therefore, new opportunities for investments will appear.
Ukraine's high potential has also been confirmed by the Macquarie Research international firm, which predicts that Ukraine will increase the capacity of solar power plants in 2012 by 400 MW - up to 600 MW. At the same time, new photovoltaic power plants with total capacity of 1.8 GW will be built and commissioned in Ukraine by 2016 .
Also, Macquarie Research analysts believe that the solar energy in Ukraine will develop more intensively than in European countries such as Bulgaria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria, Portugal, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden and Denmark. For example, the Solar Park "Perovo" in Crimea is one of the largest in the world.
As it was reported, the alternative energy in Ukraine has developed much more intensively in past year and a half than the traditional one. By early July, the total number of companies exploiting the power plants on renewables and selling electricity via Feed-in-Tariff increased up to 66, and the amount of such power plants - up to 111.