CRISIS MANAGEMENT OFFICE

By the end of 2021, following an invitation from the head of NJSC “Naftogaz”, I joined the state-owned company. By March of this year, together with a team of experts, who have successful experience in implementing biomass heat and power projects, I started to realize an ambitious goal. In particular, to become the largest generator of heat from biomass by 2027 and to replace about 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas, which gives Ukraine the opportunity to almost completely abandon the use of natural gas for central heating, replacing it, in particular, with biomass and RDF (waste) www.naftogaz.com

The implementation of these projects took place on the basis of the Naftogaz Bioenergy subsidiary https://www.naftogaz.com which I headed and reorganized to create an effective operating model for the development and management of biomass and RDF heat and power infrastructure.

Over the past year, the team of the Naftogaz Bioenergy office has developed projects for the construction of 9 biomass plants in 8 regions of Ukraine. It has successfully implemented two projects for electricity generation (Lviv, Hrybovychi landfill) and heat generation (Hero City of Okhtyrka).

Working in partnership with Clear Energy Group, we have implemented a pilot project of a 625 kW biogas power plant operating at a solid waste landfill in the Lviv region.

Due to the 38-hectare biogas power plant, the landfill, which emits millions of cubic meters of harmful landfill gas, has become a source of energy for surrounding households.

It can produce 2,645 thousand megawatt-hours per year, replacing more than 800 thousand cubic meters of natural gas. This allows us to provide electricity to about 735 households and at the same time reduce carbon emissions by about 30 thousand tons per year.

By implementing this project, more than 2 million cubic meters of methane, which is 30 times more harmful than carbon dioxide, will not be released into the atmosphere, and millions of cubic meters of landfill gas from 38 hectares of a garbage polygon will become a source of energy.

In September-November 2022, on behalf of the Board of Naftogaz, our office built the most powerful biomass-fired thermal power plant in Ukraine and one of the most powerful ones in Europe (40 MW) in the Hero City of Okhtyrka.

It was necessary to implement the project because the Russians destroyed the heating plant in Okhtyrka: the whole city was left without heat www.unian.ua

The heroism of our Armed Forces and our heat and power engineers, who were forced to work under bombardment, gave us the power to ensure uninterrupted heat supply in a city of 48,000 people. On 30 November 2022, the heat was supplied to the heating network.

The project took 96 days to complete ( usually, such projects take 18-24 months to finish), which is a vivid example of crisis management and the skillful use of the experience my team gained in 2013-2016.

In 2016, my company Biogasenergo successfully implemented an investment project for the construction of the most powerful 18 MW thermal power plant in Eastern Europe, which runs on biofuels, in Ivankiv village, Kyiv region. It produces and sells electricity at a “green” tariff.

The investment totaled $40 million and resulted in the creation of 400 new jobs. The project was implemented in partnership with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

There are projects that I am as proud of as successful business projects, and which have become the hallmark of Ukraine:
2008 – I founded one of the most prestigious riding clubs in Europe, “Butenko’s Stables” (Protsiv village, Boryspil district, Kyiv region).

Today, it is one of the world’s most famous Children’s Riding Schools, with more than 70 children of all ages.

From 2003 to the present, I have organized about 200 equestrian competitions. Before that time, Ukraine held a maximum of five competitions a year.

30 years of experience: 1993-2023

All my successfully implemented projects were the first and became successful counterparts.

Before the implementation of these projects, there was no similar experience in Ukraine. This has always been my winning strategy. So:

• The first delivery of drywall to Ukraine and the creation of an All-Ukrainian sales network (investment of $1 million) – 1993;
• The first plant in Ukraine to produce metal profiles for drywall (40% of the market) (investment of $2.5 million) – 1998;
• The first multi-level underground parking lot (156 bays, 3 floors) in the center of Kyiv at 10 Lutheranska Street (investment of $5 million) – 2002;
• The first “premium class” clubhouses in Kyiv at 27-b Khreshchatyk Street and 10 Lutheranska Street (investment of $50 million) – 2002-2006;
• The first IPO in the history of the Ukrainian economy ($140 million raised) – 2005;
• The first Ukrainian Olympic-level equestrian club (investment of $12 million) – 2007;
• In 2009, it was the first time in the Ukrainian market when a Master Plan for the development of a separate village in Kyiv region, Protsiv, was drafted and approved in accordance with the established procedure (investment of $3 million);
• Ukraine’s first EBRD loan (€15.5 million) for green energy – 2013;
• The construction of the first biomass power plant in Ukraine and one of the most powerful one in Eastern Europe (investment of $41 million) – 2016;
• The first Ukrainian energy developer company, “Naftogaz Bioenergy”, was established as part of the state-owned national company “Naftogaz”, which made it possible to successfully implement 2 heat and electricity generation projects during the war;
• During the period of military aggression, we successfully implemented a heat generation project in the hero city of Okhtyrka. The uniqueness of the thermal power plant is to provide full heat to the town of 48 thousand people. This is one of the most powerful biomass power plants in Europe (investment of $20 million) – 2022.