How is the large community of Zhytomyr region working on energy security in the municipal sector? Thanks to what, Zhytomyr increases the energy efficiency of the city's heat, electricity and water supply without overloading the budget? A journalist from "Ukrainian Energy" found out about this during her stay in the community at the invitation of the Kharkiv Press Club, which is implementing the project "Communities of Zhytomyr region under martial law. Challenges and windows of opportunity".

Changes begin with the development of a city development strategy

In 2018, the Zhytomyr City Council approved the Concept of Integrated Development of Zhytomyr until 2030. It was the result of two years of joint work by the authorities and active residents of the city. During this period, more than 30 thousand citizens took part in various public events, where they discussed and shared their thoughts, ideas and vision for the development of their city.

The collected ideas were processed by local specialists with the help of international experts and compiled into a coherent document. The concept includes six main priorities for strategic development. Each priority has 3-4 strategic goals, for the implementation of which sectoral plans have been developed and projects and activities have been outlined.

The Concept of Integrated Development is the next important document after the General Plan of the city. Source: presentation of the Zhytomyr City Council

The “Green City” direction includes such goals as:

achieving European standards of energy efficiency and energy saving;
forming and maintaining an environmentally safe environment;
fostering environmentally friendly awareness and behavior;
balanced development of green areas of the city and suburbs.

Specialists assess the progress of the implementation of the tasks of this direction using about 40 indicators.

However, Zhytomyr began its path to sustainable development back in 2012, when it was the first city in Eastern Europe to join the European initiative Covenant of Mayors. In 2014, the city administration approved the developed Action Plan for Sustainable Energy Development with commitments to reduce CO2 emissions by 20% by 2020. They were successfully implemented thanks to the implementation of a policy of energy-efficient use of resources and the transition to renewable energy sources.

Zhytomyr plans to reduce CO2 emissions by 40% by 2030, and to completely switch municipal facilities to renewable energy by 2050

The city also has a Municipal Energy Plan (MEP), which summarizes the measures implemented in the city by various executive bodies by priority levels. This allows for operational control over its implementation. The city council noted that the MEP helps maintain a clear overview of all areas of the city's activities in the field of energy and climate protection, including development and spatial planning, municipal buildings and structures, mobility, and more.

In 2019, after an international audit, the city received the European Energy Label (EEL). Zhytomyr became the second Ukrainian city after Vinnytsia to have an EEL certificate. This status means that the community has developed strategic documents that provide for a move towards reducing energy consumption. Thus, Zhytomyr's chances of receiving European grants and attracting additional funding for the implementation of long-term projects in the energy and climate sectors are increasing.

The city's current decarbonization goals have doubled: it is planned to reduce CO2 emissions by 40% by 2030, and by 2050 to completely switch municipal facilities to renewable energy sources, notes Borys Pakholiuk, director of the City Development Agency.

In order to fulfill these obligations on time, the city is actively implementing a number of tasks, both independently and with the help of international partners.

Development of the district heating system and thermal modernization of buildings

The Soviet legacy left the city a centralized heating system with a four-pipe supply of coolant to apartment buildings: two pipes for supply and return for heating and the same pipes for hot water supply and return. This scheme does not provide for the flexibility of the heating system of buildings depending on weather changes, notes Serhiy Kondratyuk, Deputy Mayor of the Zhytomyr City Council.

If during the heating season the outside temperature is about 8°C, that is, it is relatively warm outside, the district heating system is not able to respond promptly to a decrease in demand, the city council noted.

“You may have seen that during the heating season, when it is warm outside, residents open windows for ventilation. The boiler room cannot provide coolant conditionally less than 70°C. Overheating occurs in buildings, which means that we do not use heat efficiently,” explains Borys Pakholiuk.

To prevent this from happening, individual heat points (ITPs) are being installed in the building, which allow such regulation at the end consumer level. But experts emphasize that ITPs should be installed only after the building has been thermally modernized.

Thanks to thermal insulation of pipelines, insulation of facades and attics, replacement of windows and installation of ITPs in the building, it is possible to save up to 50% of thermal energy.

In 2012, the city received its first loan from the international financial organization NEFCO for the thermal modernization of a municipal facility - a preschool building. Currently, thermal modernization has been carried out on about 30 buildings of budgetary institutions. Zhytomyr continues to cooperate with international financial organizations, and work is currently underway on projects for the comprehensive thermal modernization of about 40 municipal facilities.

Such work is also actively carried out in Zhytomyr condominiums with the help of state programs, grants and residents' contributions. Thanks to thermal insulation of pipelines, insulation of facades and attics, replacement of windows and installation of ITP in the building, it is possible to save up to 50% of thermal energy.

According to the Zhytomyr City Council, the number of installed ITPs over the past twelve years has increased from four installations to 216 in 2024.

In the fall of 2024, the Vulyk-21 condominium completed a comprehensive modernization of the building using the Energodim program. Source: Zhytomyr City Council

An important direction for the city is the modernization and construction of new heating networks. The implementation of projects to increase the efficient use of energy in combination with the modernization of heating networks has led to a decrease in heat losses. According to the estimates of the city council specialists, they are five to six times smaller than in many other cities. Total investments in the development of the district heating system today amount to about 30 million euros.

Financial support for energy and environmental projects is provided to the Zhytomyr community by several international financial institutions, in particular the EBRD, the Nordic Environmental Finance Corporation (NEFCO), the Swiss Confederation (SECO), and the Eastern European Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership (E5P) Fund.

Such support appeared thanks to systematic work on attracting extra-budgetary resources to the city's economy. For this purpose, in 2017, the Municipal Institution “City Development Agency” was created within the Zhytomyr City Council. As its head notes, the main areas of work of the agency's specialists are writing projects in various areas of the city economy, finding resources for their implementation, and direct implementation of these projects.

Challenges of war accelerate the implementation of projects on local fuels and distributed energy

A biomass CHP has been operating in Zhytomyr for the fourth year, providing heat to a residential neighborhood of the city and seven social sphere facilities. Currently, the station generates not only thermal energy, but also electrical energy on a local resource. The capacity of the bioenergy facility is capable of producing 7.1 MW of thermal energy and 1.2 MWh of electrical energy.

In total, more than five dozen boiler houses operate in the city. Natural gas in Zhytomyr boiler houses is gradually being replaced by local biomass, in particular, wood chips and other woodworking waste. This makes it possible to provide a more reliable heat supply. In addition, according to experts, such a solution is more economically profitable than burning natural gas.

Since 2012, the city's natural gas consumption for municipal needs has been halved - from 99.1 million m3 to 49 million m3.

The city has four more boiler houses running on alternative fuels. Two of them are modular, they produce heat for subscribers, and in case of an emergency, the boiler houses can be moved to another area of the city to provide energy to other consumers.

Soon, two more CHPs are planned to be built in Zhytomyr: one on biomass with a capacity of 50 MW, and the second on solid renewable fuel (SRF) with an admixture of wood chips, with an electric capacity of 10 to 13 MW with heat generation of up to 22 MW.

“Zhytomyr today produces about 100 thousand tons of garbage per year. A waste processing plant has been operating in the city since 2019. It processes waste into fuel, which is currently used in cement plants. But we understand that this resource can be used to meet the needs of the population in thermal energy, and the city in its own electric energy,” the city council comments on future plans.

Thanks to the use of energy from waste, the city plans to reduce natural gas consumption by another 20 million m3 per year.

The destruction of energy infrastructure is currently a huge challenge for all Ukrainian cities. Zhytomyr is studying the potential of its own resources and international technical assistance to support the energy supply of municipal facilities. Particular attention is paid to the needs of critical infrastructure facilities.

Installation of a gas-piston unit. Photo: Zhytomyr City Council

Experts consider modular gas-piston units to be a quick-to-implement solution that can solve the problems of backup and emergency power supply. The city received six such units free of charge thanks to international technical assistance from the USAID agency. Two units with a capacity of 1.63 MW have already been installed, four with a capacity of 1.8 MW are currently in the process of being installed.

At the same time, experts note a significant amount of related work: from project development to its approval; from building the foundation, laying cable and gas networks to obtaining a license. For example, according to experts' calculations, the installation of a gas-piston unit with a capacity of 0.63 MW for one of the boiler houses cost the city budget about UAH 12 million.

The city is looking for opportunities to implement new energy efficiency and “green” generation projects.

The city achieved significant electricity savings by switching all street lighting to LED lamps. This allowed to halve electricity consumption and save 1.7 GWh on lighting annually.

Two solar power plants with a capacity of 20 and 40 kW were installed last year at municipal facilities in Zhytomyr thanks to the city's project cooperation with the NGO "Ekodia". Czech partners purchased panels for hospitals, and the city covered the costs of developing project documentation and installation. The cooperation was continued in 2024. In the fall, an additional solar power plant with a capacity of 105 kW with batteries with a capacity of about 30 kWh was installed in the Zhytomyr City Hospital, so the equipment of critical departments will work even during power outages.

The community is currently considering long-term plans to build a floating solar power plant on the city reservoir. Experts believe that the hydroelectric power plant will be able to add its share to the city's 100% renewable generation package.

Larysa Bilozerova, specially for "Ukrainian Energy"