Hub firm aims to wean Ukraine off Russian gas - media

“These people are suffering, their lives have turned to mud and dirt,” said Rod Robertson, chief executive of the Ukraine Agro Valley Association. “We’re not on the Kremlin’s Christmas card list for doing this,” the Boston Herald reports.

The association plans to build 20 factories across the country that would make biofuel pellets made from a crop called miscanthus. Each factory would be surrounded by 10,000 acres of farmland for the crops. Miscanthus, which is similar to corn, would be harvested, dried and compressed to make pellets that can be burned for fuel.

The pellets could be used to heat buildings and eventually run power plants, Robertson said.

The heat and power generated by the pellets that 20 factories and 200,000 acres of miscanthus could produce will make a real impact on where the country gets most of its energy.

Each factory will cost roughly $20 million to build. The association is hoping to find the $400 million necessary for the 20 factories through U.S. and European government funding.

Ukraine has been trying to reduce its dependence on Russia for natural gas after the conflict in Crimea. The country gets much of its gas from Russia, and the ability to heat homes and power buildings is often at the whim of Russian leaders. Earlier this year, Ukraine stopped buying natural gas from Russia after a price dispute amid an ongoing conflict in Ukraine's east. 

“These people are going to have a hard time heating their homes in the winter, it’s survival for these people,” Robertson said. “The whole country needs it.”

He said the factories are likely to begin operating by 2017, but the crops need to be planted a year before.

“We would like to start building factories, we would like to the get the funding in place by the end of this year,” he said. “This is one of the biggest talked-about projects in the Ukraine.”