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Despite Ukraine''s ongoing conflict with Russia, the country''s solar sector continues to develop. Lena Dias Martins reports on the opportunities solar developers are finding amid the horrors of war.
Installed renewable capacity in Ukraine is growing. This was the message from Maksym Sysoiev, partner at global law firm Dentons, at the ''Large Scale Solar Summit Central Eastern Europe'' (LSS CEE) late last year, hosted by PV Tech Power publisher, Solar Media. "Despite the odds," Sysoiev added, new solar plants are being implemented and completed.
Although the precise installed capacity of solar and other technologies in Ukraine is now considered restricted information, the country''s renewables sector is growing, as memorably illustrated by The Guardian last May, which revealed that Ukraine had built more onshore wind turbines since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 than the UK.
Addressing the Energy Security Forum 2024 in February, Andrii Gerus, the chairman of the committee on energy, housing and utilities, revealed that Ukraine commissioned roughly 500MW of solar power plants over the year, noting that renewable generation "significantly helps to ensure the stable operation of the power system".
"I also believe that 2024 will be a year of investment and launch of energy storage facilities. I think we will not see isolated cases, as it was before, but a number of interesting and useful projects for the energy system," added Gerus.
Facilitating this "year of investment" will require demonstrations of security and stability to entice investors, a tough demand for a country amid conflict. But Ukraine refuses to be held back, amending and creating green policies to incentivise international investors to fund Ukrainian renewables, not only for energy security in Ukraine but for the possibility of export.
As Sysoiev''s fellow panellist, Kyryll Kostyria, head of legal department at UDP Renewables, noted, "60% of [Ukraine''s] renewables are solar, so the possibility to build large-scale solar for export is great."
Most solar projects currently operating in Ukraine are under the country''s feed-in tariff (FiT) scheme, says Narek Harutyunyan, CEO and founder of independent power producer (IPP), Rengy Development, a fellow Ukraine panellist at LSS CEE who later spoke to PV Tech Power.
In short, energy produced by renewable assets under the green tariff will be sold to the state enterprise Guaranteed Buyer who will then sell electricity on the market via electricity auctions.
According to Ukrainian law firm DLF, however, the arrears from the green tariff, caused by an accumulation of debts between market participants, threaten the Ukrainian renewable energy sector.
As the last performance report for the Guaranteed Buyer dates back to 2019 (and the last financial statements to 2021), DLF says it''s difficult to estimate the precise amount of debt currently owed to producers under the tariff but the organisation estimates that it accumulates to roughly UAH30 billion (US$79 million).
Alongside market and regulatory factors, Harutyunyan attributes this debt to a "significant decrease" in electricity consumption in eastern regions, causing supply and demand economics to become "skewed".
"This is one of the reasons many solar power plant investors (old or new) are planning to switch to either merchant-based schemes or even find options for corporate power purchase agreements (CPPAs)," continues Harutyunyan. "Both routes are very new for Ukraine, so it may take some time for them to be bankable."
However, Harutyunyan notes that Rengy is currently in the process of launching a CPPA-based project to "tick the boxes from both regulatory as well as bankability points of view and be able to offer and expand this direction going forward".
July 2023 saw Ukraine sign into law a groundbreaking piece of green legislation: ''On Amendments to Some Laws of Ukraine Regarding the Restoration and Green Transformation of the Energy System of Ukraine (Law No. 3220).''
This law implements a number of beneficial instruments for renewable energy bankability, including confirming the preservation of the green tariff to provide stability for assets already under the scheme, as well as introducing a contracts for difference (CfD)-like scheme that allows producers to minimise their susceptibility to price volatility in the electricity market.
Harutyunyan says the law will have a "significant impact", allowing "many issues to be resolved and new opportunities to be introduced".
For example, Harutyunyan points out that the law allows power plants to exit the FiT scheme and sell electricity to the market, either independently or via other traders, simply by needing to invoice the difference between the market price and initial FiT to the Guaranteed Buyer.
The law also proposes the introduction of guarantees of origin for electricity which Harutyunyan hopes will be a catalyst to building a market to trade these certificates either domestically or in Europe.
During the LSS CEE panel Kostyria pointed out that although this market may not make a significant impact domestically, it will be helpful for energy trading internationally.
"What we see now when we talk to international companies is that they ask us to provide certificates of origin, as they need to provide this for their internal audit to show that they are carbon neutral," said Kostyria, adding: "Of course, for exporting electricity, those certificates of origin are very important because, as far as I understand, the EU is expecting [Ukraine] to only export renewable energy and to confirm this, these certificates are very important."
Moreover, Harutyunyan notes that the law allows active consumers to develop renewable power plants for their own use with the option to sell surplus electricity to the market or grid.
Sysoiev also praised the introduction of the "active consumer in Ukraine" during the panel last November. Although this mechanism would require secondary legislation before it can be used, it would allow 50% of purchased electricity to be sold to the grid whilst the remaining amount is consumed. "I can confirm that my clients are considering this mechanism," Sysoiev revealed.
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