Oschadbank and Energy Company of Ukraine to implement a joint program for energy development in Ukrainian communities

Oschadbank and the Energy Company of Ukraine (ECU) have signed a memorandum of cooperation to simplify the procedure and improve the conditions for lending to new energy projects in the territorial communities of Ukraine.

In line with the state's energy policy aimed at developing distributed generation, Oschadbank and the ECU have created a joint program to simplify the financing and implementation of energy projects at the community level. According to the memorandum, the state-owned energy supplier, the Energy Company of Ukraine, will conduct an economic and technical analysis of community-initiated projects that apply for funding. The company will also offer communities market-based tools to improve the economic efficiency and sustainability of such projects, including cooperation within self-production mechanisms, aggregated and balancing groups.

The economic models of the projects developed by the ECU will become the basis for the financial assessment of their profitability and payback when Oschadbank makes a decision on lending.

“According to our experience, one of the barriers to the development of decentralized generation is the lack of relevant competence in in the vast majority of small communities. Engaging the specialized expertise of the ECU will allow communities to assess the potential for developing their own energy projects, which can not only ensure uninterrupted energy supply or replace it with their own generation, but also bring income to the community budget. Oschad has in-depth expertise in working with energy projects of any complexity, with a market share of over 31%. We are glad that such competence will now also be on the customer's side in our cooperation with communities,” said Yurii Katsion, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Oschadbank in charge of corporate business.

“Improving the security of energy supply to state-owned enterprises, critical infrastructure and territorial communities of Ukraine remains a priority for the ECU. We are constantly looking for and creating ways to strengthen the market paradigm of ensuring the security of energy supply. The combination of the deep market expertise of the ECU team with the reliable financial platform of Oschadbank creates the conditions for achieving win-win solutions in one of the most complex but strategically important energy supply sectors,” emphasized Vitalii Butenko, CEO of the ECU.