DEVELOPMENT OF BIOENERGY AS COMPONENT OF ENERGY SECURITY AND DECARBONIZATION OF THE ECONOMY OF UKRAINE

Abstract

One of Ukraine’s strategic goals is to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. To achieve this, it is necessary to implement measures to improve energy efficiency, expand the use of renewable energy sources, and develop a circular economy. Bioenergy is a powerful sector of renewable energy with great potential for the sustainable use of biomass and the ability to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the economy. Bioenergy technologies enable the production of biofuels for heat and electricity generation, as well as for use in the transportation sector. The significant potential of solid biomass of over 16 Mtoe/y is a reliable feedstock base for the production of pellets and briquettes, which are solid biofuels of increased quality, as well as advanced biofuels. The production and consumption of biomethane, a complete analogue of natural gas, deserve special attention. Ukraine has sufficient raw material resources to produce the biomethane needed for domestic consumption and export to the EU. For the first time, a detailed comparison of the unit cost of energy derived from traditional sources and from biofuels is presented, and the conditions necessary for replacing fossil fuels with biomass are analyzed. It is justified that to increase biomass consumption for the purpose of replacing natural gas in Ukraine, a uniform market price for gas must be established for all categories of consumers.