OREANDA-NEWS. Finland and Ukraine signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the energy sector during Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s visit to Finland on 24 January. The MoU between the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and the State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving of Ukraine was signed by Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Kai Mykkanen from Finland and by Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Hennadii Zubko from Ukraine.

Energy efficiency is one of the main challenges that Ukraine needs to address. Ukraine uses about 18 billion cubic meters of gas a year for heating residential buildings, seven billion of which is lost in the air because of old buildings’ poor heating systems and two billion disappears through leakages in decrepit gas pipes. Ukraine aims to improve the efficiency of its power plants and develop the heating and electricity distribution network. Solutions are also sought for more environmentally friendly waste disposal systems and for energy recovery from waste.

Finland can offer solutions to these challenges. The newly signed energy MoU will facilitate Finnish companies’ access to Ukraine’s markets. Finnish companies have actively contributed to efforts aiming at closer cooperation. The priorities of the energy cooperation between Finland and Ukraine are energy efficiency, renewable energy, and alternative energy sources in heat and power production, traffic and industrial solutions.  The cooperation also includes exchange of information, projects conducted in partnership, and charting of funding opportunities.