Leopolis.news interview with the director of strategy and development of Free Energy, Anatoly Nikolaychuk, about the prospects for renewable energy development in the Lviv region.

The young Swedish-Ukrainian company Free Energy intends to invest in the development of alternative energy in the Lviv Region. At the end of the summer, it announced the construction of two small hydroelectric power plants and signed a memorandum of cooperation with the regional authorities.
  The Free Energy company, which was founded by the Swede Oliver Cabrera and the Ukrainian Denys Galushko in 2014, considers small hydropower plants to be its trump card. Over the next few years, investors intend to build about 5 such power plants in Ukraine. In an interview with Leopolis.news, the director of strategy and development of "Free Energy" Anatoliy Nikolaychuk talked about the prospects of green energy in Lviv region.
What factors make the Lviv region promising for the development of green energy? Natural resources, ease of doing business, consumer demand?
Lviv region has significant potential for implementation of projects in the field of alternative energy. For example, the development of small hydroelectric power stations (mHES), wind and solar power stations (WES/SES), bioenergy. In neighboring countries - Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria - thousands of small hydroelectric power plants, solar and wind power plants are operating. When you simply travel through European countries, you can see how developed this industry is. Almost every third building is covered by solar panels: roofs of private houses or businesses, even parking structures for cars...
The Lviv region is rich in natural resources for the development of WPP, SPP and, first of all, small hydropower projects, which is a priority area of activity for the Free Energy company. The region has enough rivers and convenient places for the construction of micro-, mini- and small hydropower plants. First of all, these are mountain rivers that have a powerful hydro potential, but it is more difficult to build hydroelectric power plants there. Convenient locations are often far from power grids, and the possible impact on the local ecosystem must be carefully investigated.
We mainly create small hydroelectric power plants on existing hydroelectric structures (dams, reservoirs), where small hydroelectric power plants once worked or where their construction was planned. In the flat part of the region, in our opinion, there are also places where it is possible to build small power plants that will not disturb the natural balance, but on the contrary - will only supplement and develop the current infrastructure.
But the main factor why we, as investors, became interested in the Lviv region is the position of the local authorities, in particular LODA, with which we recently signed a Memorandum of Cooperation on the development of alternative energy. Far from all regions of Ukraine, local authorities support foreign investors. In Lviv, we met a warm, transparent and professional approach to cooperation with the investor. We hope that in the future the local authorities of the Lviv region will help our company implement renewable energy projects.
  What is the reason for the recent active development of green energy? What factors restrained this development earlier and how do they affect today?
It is necessary to understand that alternative energy is not a fashion or a trend, but one of the key factors in the further development of civilization. The signing last December of the Paris Climate Agreement, which was supported even by such industrial giants as the USA and China, showed that world leaders are aware of the risks to which the planet is exposed by the use of traditional energy sources. Humanity has no choice, so every year alternative energy will gain momentum around the world.
As for Ukraine, we have clear commitments to the EC: to set the share of green energy at the level of 11% by 2020. Perhaps there is some opposition to the development of RES power plants in Ukraine (renewable energy sources, -ed.), but this is not the position of the state. The Ukrainian authorities are interested in the development of renewable energy sources, therefore there is a "green tariff" in Ukraine, which allows investors, despite the traditional risks of our country, to implement projects in the field of alternative energy.
What are the main difficulties?
In my opinion, the value of small hydropower is greatly underestimated in our country. Back in Soviet times, more than 1,000 small hydroelectric power plants were operating in Ukraine, but in the 1960s and 1970s, the energy strategy of the USSR was reoriented to the development of nuclear power plants and thermal power plants. Small hydropower was forgotten, over time the operation of many small hydropower plants was stopped. Today, less than 200 small hydropower plants are operating in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, small hydropower is a very developed industry in most European countries. For example, Austria meets the needs of 50% of households with the help of small hydropower plants, and in Norway, which has huge reserves of gas and oil, hydropower generates 98% of the electricity for the country's requirements.