Alternative energy will save from aggressive Russia

Ukraine is seeking U.S. investment in its biomass, wind and solar power industries. The idea is to use renewable energy to curb its reliance on fuel imports from Russia, which annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region last month and has troops massed on the border.

Ukrainian officials say they’ve found a way to protect the nation from Russia: Go green.

Ukraine is seeking U.S. investment in its biomass, wind and solar power industries. The idea is to use renewable energy to curb its reliance on fuel imports from Russia, which annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region last month and has troops massed on the border.

Ukraine relies on Russian natural gas for heat and electric power. U.S. and European officials have been searching for ways to help Ukraine limit this dependence, including expediting U.S. approvals of facilities to export liquefied natural gas.

As leaders seek to reduce tensions, Ukrainian officials say one way to replace Russian gas is through home-grown renewable energy production. The U.S. and the EU should consider strategic partnerships to invest in the country, while acknowledging the inherent risk, given the economic and security climate.

According to the research center, biomass and biogas are the most promising forms of renewable energy for Ukraine, in part because the nation’s network of electric-power lines and substations can’t easily adjust to the addition of significant amounts of wind and solar energy.

Biomass may help replace natural gas used in the nation’s 24,000 boiler plants, officials from the Energy Industry Research Center said.

Vadym Glamazdin, the center’s managing director, said Ukraine is seeking strategic partnerships with U.S. businesses, though it hasn’t identified potential companies. Babcock & Wilcox Co. (BWC), based in Charlotte, North Carolina, and closely held Hurst Boiler & Welding Co. of Coolidge, Georgia, are among companies that make boilers.

Babcock & Wilcox, has been working closely with the Ukrainian government to explore a fuel switch from natural gas to coal, Patrick Wilson, the company’s director of government affairs for energy, said in a phone interview. He said the company has proposed a five-plant pilot project worth $1 billion to convert the fuel.

“The number one reason for making the fuel switch is to increase the energy security of Ukraine,” Wilson said in a phone interview. Clean-coal technology can replace some of Ukraine’s inefficient natural gas plants, providing a bridge to renewable fuels, he said.

Glamazdin of the Energy Industry Research Center said Ukraine’s heating supply accounts for about 40 percent of all gas imported from Russia, which could be replaced with renewable energy within three to five years.

By 2030, renewables could account for about 15 percent of Ukraine’s electricity supply, up from about 2 percent now, with adequate investment, he said.