UABIO Head Georgii Geletukha: ‘Biomethane producers want clear and understandable rules in all areas’

Georgii Geletukha, Chairman of the Board of the Bioenergy Association of Ukraine, gave an exclusive interview to Energoreforma, an energy project of Interfax-Ukraine.

Among other things, he spoke about:

• needs to change calorific value standards;
• prospects for biomethane exports;
• problems of ‘green’ auctions and why bioenergy is not interested in them;
• conditions necessary for the development of bioenergy in Ukraine.

In particular, regarding the problem of calorific value standards for biogas, Geletukha explained that Ukrainian gas codes are based on Soviet standards for high-calorific Russian natural gas, and biomethane does not meet them. At the same time, ‘green’ methane is still supplied to the grid, but producers are charged an additional fine for non-compliance with these indicators.

Accordingly, changes are needed to the GTS Code, which has adopted the requirements from Soviet ‘GOSTs’. This can be done by the NEURC regulator at the request of the GTS operator, and quite quickly.

Geletukha also adjusted his previous forecasts for new biogas capacities as of the end of 2024.

‘Earlier I said that by the end of the year Ukraine would have seven biomethane projects, but I suspect that Gals Agro, which produces biomethane in Chernihiv region, will not launch its second project in Kyiv region this year. As far as I know, they are still designing it. That is, six biomethane production facilities have a chance to launch this year,’ said the UABIO head.

In addition, he explained why bioenergy representatives were not interested in the ‘green’ auctions held for the first time in Ukraine this year.

‘The maximum support price set by the terms of the auctions was 12 euro cents/kWh. In the market, the sale price of electricity is already higher – it can be 13 or 15 euro cents. And you can still ‘play around’ there. For example, you can connect at peak times and get 17.18 euro cents or more. There, the price almost rests on the price list, i.e. it goes up to UAH 9 thousand/MWh,’ said Geletukha.

Read more about other aspects of bioenergy development in Ukraine in the interview with the UABIO Head here.