Lutsk
Lutsk is the city with total area of 42 km2. As of 1 March 2015, population of the city was 217.3 th. persons. Lutsk can be easily called one of the most energy efficient oblast centers of Ukraine – it cooperates actively with NEFCO, EBRD, World Bank and other international financial institutions in attraction of funds for implementation of the energy efficiency measures. Currently, Lutsk is implementing the project on modernization of the district heating system which envisages replacement of equipment, liquidation of the basement boiler houses, installation of the individual heat substations, boiler on alternative fuel, etc. The saved funds will be used for the works on thermal modernization of the public buildings.
Energy saving is in the focus of attention of the city authorities for already 10 years. In 2007, the Lutsk City Council established the Energy Saving Sector which was later transformed into a Unit. In 2009, Lutsk officially supported the leading European Union initiative – the Covenant of Mayors (its signatories commit to reduce their CO2 emissions by at least 20% by 2020, thus contributing to the development of environmentally oriented economy and quality of life improvement) and also became one of the participants of the USAID Municipal Heating Reform Project in Ukraine. Already in two years, the City Council approved the document which is a component of the City Strategic Development Plan in the spheres of energy efficiency and energy saving – the Municipal Energy Plan.
In 2014, after signing of the relevant Memorandum, cooperation between the city and the USAID Municipal Energy Reform Project in Ukraine (hereinafter – the USAID Project) started. The Memorandum identified four main areas of work for municipal energy efficiency improvement and raising funds to finance the relevant measures:
1) development or improvement of the Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP);
2) improvement of the energy management system;