Recently, students and teachers of Uzhhorod National University returned from Romania, from the city of Suceava, where they were working for 3 days with Ukrainian and foreign partners of the project Cross-Border Cooperation Smart Energy implemented and funded in the frame of the Joint Operational Program Romania-Ukraine 2014-2020 and is due to end this year. Myroslava Lendel, Vice-Rector of Uzhhorod National University and Smart Energy Project Manager, notes that the project team's trip to Suceava was one of the activities aimed at fulfilling the educational component of the project. At the previous stages of its implementation, the main tasks of research and institutional components were completed. Educational courses "Energy Management" and "Energy Audit" for students of the Engineering Faculty have been developed, an Innovation Center with Smart Energy laboratory was prepared for opening, energy audits of 3 university buildings were conducted, smart electricity meters have been installed in all university buildings. Complete replacement of the lighting system at the Faculties of Biology and Chemisry, where energy-saving lamps will be installed, is also underway. “At the same time, another important project objective is to train engineering students, who will eventually be able to conduct energy audits of buildings independently and provide professional advice on energy saving. It requires not only special modern equipment (purchased as part of the project), but also experience and relevant skills. Valuable experience is exactly what our students were able to gain during practical trainings in Romania,” says Myroslava Lendel. Professor Valentyn Ivanytskyi, the head of the Department of Instrumentation Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering and the project coordinator, specifies: “The project team worked in three directions in Romania. On the first day, the speakers from different countries delivered their reports on the achievements in the Carpathian region in the context of introduction of energy-saving technologies and energy efficiency.”

    “The reports were diverse and concerned different areas of modern smart energy use,” says Valentyn Ivanytskyi. “The second part of the program was devoted to practical trainings. Representatives of local communities from Ukraine studied various methods and aspects (economic, legal, organizational) of implementing energy-saving technologies in Romanian communities and students worked with modern devices used for energy audits and energy study of buildings and premises. The third component of the program was holding excursions to infrastructure facilities. Participants got acquainted with the work of three green energy facilities. At first, we visited the electric and thermal power plant working on biogas from the waste of the woodworking industry, thanks to which electricity or thermal energy is produced, which heats several districts of the city of Suceava. We also got acquainted with the operation of a powerful solar power plant in the mountains, which illustrates a rational approach to land use, when energy production facility is located on an unforested mountain slope instead of fertile land. The third facility is a wind turbine in one of the communities near Suceava, thanks to which the community almost constantly receives 1 megawatt of wind energy for its needs.”

   Professor Valentyn Ivanytsky says that the trip to Romania was one of the final stages of the project. He emphasizes the importance of practical experience that UzhNU students gained during the trainings. “As part of the project we purchased equipment used for energy audit. And I want to say that, since our students had an opportunity to learn how to work with such equipment earlier in Uzhhorod, and during the practical training in Suceava, they are ready to go to the communities on their own to conduct the first stages of energy audit. They are ready to evaluate buildings, calculate energy losses and make recommendations for improving energy efficiency. Moreover, in some communities, our students have already done such work at social infrastructure facilities. We can see that local communities are getting more and more interested in the topic of energy saving and the introduction of renewable energy. Therefore, we have no doubt that in the future the cooperation of UzhNU engineers with Transcarpathian communities will be even more active. And this is great, because such joint work will contribute to the energy independence of Transcarpathia,” sums up Professor Valentyn Ivanytskyi.