Lviv Launches Biogas Production to save energy and reduce emissions

Posted on 29th January 2016

New facilities to achieve energy savings and reduce emissions in western Ukrainian city.

The West Ukrainian city of Lviv is installing a biogas plant for the generation of heat and power with support from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO) and the Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership (E5P). The investment is expected to achieve significant energy savings and improve the quality of services.

A joint 27.5 million financing package provided by the three institutions also includes measures by the communal enterprise Lvivvodokanal to rehabilitate and modernise the wastewater treatment infrastructure in the leading regional city.

The project is supported by an EBRD loan of up to 15 million, a 5 million loan from NEFCO and an investment grant of up to 7.5 million from E5P, to which the European Union is the largest contributor.

The proceeds will be used to significantly improve the efficiency and environmental performance of Lvivvodokanal, the major municipal utility which operates a 1,000-kilometre network of water supply systems and water treatment facilities and provides services to 760,000 residential and industrial users.

The investment programme will enable Lvivvodokanal to install a wastewater biogas combined heat and power plant (CHP), which will be able to generate up to 39,400 MWh of electricity annually thus allowing the company to achieve significant energy savings and will also lead to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to approximately 128,600 tonnes of CO2.

Other environmental benefits for the city and the region will be achieved through the installation of grit chambers and a chemical precipitation plant, which are expected to improve overall wastewater treatment in Lviv and reduce the pollution discharged to the Poltva River.

Technical assistance, necessary to accomplish the feasibility study and the environmental due diligence, was provided by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

The EBRD is the largest international financial investor in Ukraine. As of 1 January 2016, the Bank had a total cumulative commitment of approximately 12 billion in 355 projects throughout the country.