DTEK, developers discuss resuming renewables construction in Ukraine

Ukrainian energy group DTEK is holding talks with renewable energy developers to resume construction work on various solar and wind farms in the country, according to chief executive Maxim Timchenko.

DTEK’s CEO spoke about Ukraine’s energy security and its need to focus on renewables in an online briefing on Wednesday. He noted that Russia has changed its war tactics against Ukraine and is now focusing on completely destroying power units rather than just targeting transformers. As a result, the country’s system suffers a power deficit of about 1.5 GW at night and up to 4.5 GW during the day.

While Ukraine currently has enough gas to even export some to Europe, it will need to resort to electricity imports. At present, the country has a cross-border capacity to supply 600 MWt with the potential to increase it to 2.5 GWt in the mid-term.

Timchenko reiterated that the energy taskforce has set a target to build 30 GW of renewable energy plants in Ukraine by 2030. According to him, the country has huge potential in this field and boosting renewables is the best model for the domestic energy sector in the mid- and long-term, not just in view of decatbonisation targets but because decentralising energy sources are harder to hit and destroy compared with thermal power plants.

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