At the beginning of 2023, we started to implement the project "Growing of Energy Crops as a Component of Energy Independence of Communities".

 

The goal of the project is to increase the energy security of the communities in the Khmelnytskyi region by providing conditions for growing energy crops with the subsequent use of local raw materials for heating needs by communal institutions.

 

Berezdivska, Hannopilska, and Krupetska rural territorial communities are the participants of the project. Why we chose these communities:

• Previous experience in cooperation. Last year, we worked on the study "Green Energy Course for the Khmelnytskyi Region". These communities provided details about the availability of vacant plots of land for growing energy crops

• Community representatives expressed interest in cooperation

• Geographical and climatic factors that contribute to the cultivation of energy crops in the north of the Khmelnytskyi region

• Territorial location - three communities border with each other

 

Key tasks of the project:

• To establish nursery plantations of energy crops in three communities of the Khmelnytskyi region. Before that, conduct an analysis of the soil of the land plots and prepare them for planting

• To train representatives of local government bodies in the basics of caring for energy crop plantations

• To develop energy security development programs in terms of growing energy crops and self-sufficiency in biomass for heating needs

• To develop methodical materials for dissemination of the experience among the communities of Ukraine, which will help them independently implement similar initiatives

• To provide communal institutions of three communities of the Khmelnytskyi region with basic equipment for processing energy crops

• Make the foundations for the energy independence of the three communities through the use of energy potential

 

* The project "Growing of Energy Crops as a Component of Energy Independence of Communities" is implemented within the framework of local financial assistance of the "U-LEAD with Europe" Program, which is jointly financed by the European Union and its member states Germany, Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, and Slovenia.