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Wind and Hydrogen for Repowering Ukraine’s Post War Recovery

It is time to start rebuilding Ukraine. Because of the war Ukraine has already lost a considerable part of its power capacity. 75% of wind power capacities were forced to shut down due to the russia’s occupation of the territories where they are located. We need a new, decentralised power system with wind and other renewables at the core, a system that is less vulnerable for missile and drone attacks. Ukraine has a great potential for rapid rollout of wind capacity, along with other renewables. Ukraine’s export of green electricity and renewable hydrogen could benefit Europe.

At the same time, the large-scale, accelerated deployment of wind and other renewable technologies, which will require the post-war green recovery of our energy and economy, directly depends on the improvement and sustainability of RES legislation, abandoning manual regulation of the electricity market and implementation of its real liberalization, the flexibility of Ukraine’s energy system for high penetration of renewables, and logistics solutions. The country’s government officials and parliamentarians have to do their homework to establish a truly attractive investment climate in the country for its rapid economic recovery, taking into account the best international practices and trends based on advanced, modern, climate and environmentally friendly technologies.

Modern wind technologies are not only a globally recognized tools in tackling climate change; nowadays onshore and offshore wind is at the core of energy security and energy independence. This is the path Europe has chosen. This is the path we, Ukrainians, should follow.

This was the main topic of discussion at the Ukrainian session, held on April 27, 2023, as part of WindEurope 2023, the largest international event in the European wind energy industry. Oleksandr Podprugin, Deputy Chairman of the UWEA Board, Notus Energy, Serhiy Yevtushenko, Member of the UWEA Board, UDP Renewables, and Maksym Artemenko, Elementum Energy, shared their companies’ vision for the further development of wind energy projects in Ukraine, highlighted current barriers to the implementation of wind energy technologies and ways to solve them. Ivan Bondarchuk, Member of the UWEA Board, LCF Law Group, chaired the session. EBRD representative Edyta Noworyta, who also participated in the discussion, emphasized the bank’s readiness and willingness to play a central role in the country’s recovery, including in financing wind energy projects.

The session participants also talked about hydrogen, namely the possibility of using wind energy to produce hydrogen, its transportation and use.

Oleksandr Podprugin: “Ukraine has a huge wind potential, onshore and offshore. And can effectively satisfy own needs and increase supplies of green energy to Europe. In order to make that happen, the stability of the regulatory environment, investment protection, deblocking of the sea ports, development of the grid flexibility and availability of international financing should be secured.”

“Representatives of the Ukrainian wind energy industry are working to secure and develop renewable energy projects. Major national developers have retained their teams and are working hard to get their projects ready for investments. The UWEA and leading lawyers are working with the government to adopt the necessary legislation. Meanwhile, it is especially important to maintain the attention and support of international partners, so we urge investors to express interest and explore the possibilities of Ukrainian projects, and equipment suppliers to keep Ukraine in their portfolio. Glory to Ukraine!” summarized Ivan Bondarchuk.