Khmelnytskyi
Khmelnytskyi – the administrative center of Khmelnytskyi Oblast – is an important economic and cultural center of the Podillia region of Ukraine. The total area of the city is over 93 km2. The population of Khmelnytskyi as of 1 April 2015 was 267,910 persons. The city cooperates with many international financial organizations: US Agency for International Development (USAID), Northern Environmental Financial Corporation (NEFCO), European Investment Bank (EIB), etc. In 2014, partners from 24 countries around the world funneled USD 28.7 mln of foreign direct investment into the municipal economy.
Khmelnytskyi was one of the participants of the USAID Municipal Heating Reform Project in Ukraine. Within the framework of this project the City Council approved in 2012 a document which is a constituent part of the city development in energy efficiency and conservation – the Municipal Energy Plan for 2012-2016. In 2014, the city allocated UAH 37 mln from all financing sources for energy efficiency measures. These investments brought about an average savings of energy resources in public buildings of 8%.
Since June 2015, the Khmelnytskyi City Council has a separate structural unit – the energy management unit. In July 2015, the city joined the leading initiative of the European Union – the Covenant of Mayors – whose signatories commit to reducing their CO2 emissions by at least 20% by 2020, thus contributing to the development of an environmentally oriented economy and improved quality of life.
The city actively cooperates with the USAID Municipal Energy Reform project in Ukraine (hereinafter – the USAID Project). The Memorandum of Cooperation signed between the Project and the City Council identified four main areas of work for municipal energy efficiency improvement and raising funds to finance the relevant measures:
1) supporting the development of an Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP);
2) improving the energy management system;