In 2012, this city became the second in Belarus to join the Covenant of Mayors. Since then, international cooperation has started for Navahrudak. With the support of the European Union, it implemented the project "Development of Renewable Energy Sources in Navahrudak District – Road map for Ecological Clean Area".

The project was 90% funded by the European Union and 10% by the Navahrudak District Executive Committee, with a total budget of €600,000.

Three defibrillators or six cardiographs. This equipment can be bought with the money saved

From 14 to 25 June this year, the Housing and Utilities Services turned off hot water supply throughout Navahrudak to conduct hydro tests. And only the Central District Hospital (CDH) continued to have hot water during these days. In 2019, solar thermal collectors, heat pumps and photovoltaic panels for hot water supply were installed at the hospital, and, in 2021, a power plant was set up.

There is no such facility anywhere else in Belarus. "It is so nice to work in Navahrudak region. In big cities, the effect somehow dissolves if you do something good, and here it can be seen immediately clearly," says Uladzimir Kuzmich, Ph.D. in Engineering Science and project manager. He is originally from Navahrudak, but now lives in Minsk. He says he wanted to do something for his small hometown.

"This is a pilot project. At the first stage, forty heat collectors and two heat pumps were installed. They were intended for the hot water supply of the maternity ward," Uladzimir explained.

If the day is cloudy and there is not enough hot water, the heat pumps come on. They take heat out of the air even in winter. "It's like a refrigerator, only the opposite," explains Uladzimir. “There is a completely green energy facility here, not a single gram of organic fuel is used, only solar energy. Even heat pumps take heat out of the air, while electricity is generated by solar panels."

"In the summer, there is largely enough capacity for the maternity ward. We feed the maternity ward, the operating unit, the intensive care unit, and in the summer partially gynaecology," adds Aliaksandr Silich, the chief doctor of the Navahrudak CDH.

But the hospital's planned savings indicators have not yet been reached. To reach them, the hospital has to wait until the power plant is fully operational. "Even before it was set up, we were saving around $10,000 per year. With this amount of money, one can buy three good defibrillators or six cardiographs." The power plant will greatly increase this saving, the chief physician believes.

Experiments, a windmill and a shower in college

Yury Litavar, an expert of the project in the field of education, explained the work at the Navahrudak Agrarian College. He works here as a computer science teacher and programmer.

In 2018, the college opened a new specialty in "Environmental protection and rational use of natural resources". There had been no such specialty before in secondary institutions of Belarus.

As part of the project, a training and consulting centre was created, with the money saved at the college. This is a study room equipped with tables, chairs, work computers, stands, equipment and special software. It is used to make calculations for trainings in saving material energy resources. There is a device for measuring wind speed and a device for measuring solar activity, small demo versions of solar collectors and a windmill. Lectures, trainings and seminars for students, career guidance events, as well as excursions, events for children from kindergartens and schools of the city are held in this study room.

Special attention is drawn to the experimental practical laboratory stand, unique in Belarus. It was made on a custom order by the technopark in Mahiloŭ.

"With the help of the software and the stand, one can demonstrate how to save electrical energy using various household appliances," says Yury Litavar. There is an electric stove, pots, a kettle. With the help of these, experiments are conducted, students are divided into teams and check who will faster heat the same amount of water in different appliances, how much time it will take, how much electricity, power and money will be spent. There are different water taps on this stand to demonstrate how to save water.

A small 2.8 kW windmill was installed on the premises of the educational institution (it produces about 200 kW per month), as well as a solar thermal collector with a battery tank. Previously, there had been no hot water in the college's physical education and health room, but now students can take a hot shower after sports.

"There is enough water for 200 litres. As soon as one group is through, the water begins to warm up and for the next class it is already hot," says Yury.

Within the framework of the project, experts conduct competitions and contests. Now, because of COVID-19, many events are held online.

Saving and ecology are taught in contemporary fairy tales

Mikhail Ziziuk is the project's expert on dissemination of experience and information. He provides the public with information about renewable energy sources (RES) in simple terms. Mikhail has authored nine books, the first published in 2007. He has written four books for children. Within the framework of this project, two books for children were published in Belarusian: one for teenagers, and the second for preschool children and younger schoolchildren.

“The books are on environmental topics, because of the project's nature. And how do children get such information? So we had an idea: to do this with the help of books and fairy tales. When a new book is published, I make presentations at schools in four districts, I distribute my books. We give them to libraries, and what is left, to the National Library, and it distributes to the rest,” says Mikhail Ziziuk.

From garbage - pipes, basins and buckets

On the basis of the feasibility study developed by the project "Construction of an installation for the disposal of solid municipal waste after the sorting line", Navahrudak district won a grant from the European Union.

"We are doing a great amount of work with the public on separate waste collection," says Uladzimir Kuzmich. Thanks to the project, 410 large containers were delivered to Navahrudak, three garbage trucks were purchased, and a sorting line was installed. The containers were distributed to the four districts: Navahrudak, Kareličy, Dziatlava and Iŭje.

Nowadays, a polymer recycling line is being built in Navahrudak as part of the current project. Bags and plastic will be collected, from them, pellets will be obtained, out of which other products can already be made. For example, sewer pipes, basins, buckets, non-food packaging.

The EU project has helped to:

• Develop a strategy and practical steps for the advancement of renewable energy sources (RES) in the district;

• Prepare offers for future investors;

• Create a pilot project "Solar energy for hot water supply of the Central District Hospital in Navahrudak", provide the hospital with an uninterrupted hot water supply and save the budget resources;

• Create a training and consulting centre and a new specialty at Navahrudak State Agrarian College;

• Involve the population in the process of investing in and managing renewable energy sources.

Author: Tatsiana Sidliarevich

Article was published in Russian and Belarusian by Intex-press.by & Hrodna.life