OREANDA-NEWS. April 18, 2011. The Government approved the order of usage of budget funds to support energy saving measures. The Chairman of the State Agency for Energy Efficiency and Energy of Ukraine said this on his briefing in the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. According to him the Government has determined the procedure for compensation from the state budget of the interest rate on loans involved entities to implement energy efficiency measures, including for energy efficiency projects.

"According to the Law of Ukraine "On State Budget of Ukraine for 2011" on these measures is provided funds of USD 19.2 million UAH" he said. Mykola Pashkevich told that the state support primarily concerns the projects that aimed at reducing gas consumption, reduced energy production on existing production, as well as use of renewable energy.

The compensation for interest on loans will be granted on a competitive basis. "For participation in competition should be submitted to the State Agency of energy efficiency and energy saving an application in accordance with the prescribed form, as well as a number of documents, including business plan to improve energy efficiency", the Chairman of the Agency said.

Applications will be considered by the Commission, when it makes the decision with the winners will be awarded the contract.

Entities that declared bankrupt, have arrears of taxes and fees to state and local budgets as well as those who received financial support for energy efficiency projects within the budget of another program, or funded by international financial institutions will not be able to participate in the competition.

Answering journalists' questions concerning the beginning of the preferences Mykola Pashkevich said that the acceptance of applications will start next month.

Also commenting on the planned amount of 19.2 million UAH, he said that, first of all, it is stimulu and signal to investors, so to say "not enough" is not worth it. He said this step is intended to show the investment attractiveness of areas to assure investors in the stability and absence of risks. "No budget is enough to fund everyone, and it is not necessary. The areas that are fully funded from the state budget did not give the desired effect the experience of past years shows. In this case I'm talking about wind energy development program. In 2010, ending 14 - year term of its implementation, spent around 675 million UAH, and the result is virtually zero", - Mykola Pashkevich said.

According to Mykola Pashkevich, this negative experience has shown that to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy needs to attract private investment to implement public-private partnership, as in the following formats effectiveness of similar programs is much higher.