The central topic of the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC24), held in Berlin on June 11-12, was the future energy policy of Ukraine, as well as the country's needs and strategy for guaranteed electricity supply during the war. Politicians and business leaders focused their attention on renewable energy as a key solution to ensure Ukraine's energy security and further recovery.
This was reported by Euractiv.
The conference, in particular, focused on the sustainability and security aspects of renewable energy, where German Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck explained that “renewable energy sources also have a security aspect. One nuclear power plant is an easy target, 10,000 solar panels are harder to shoot."
The idea is to produce decentralized wind and solar power that is easily renewable and can supply electricity anywhere at a low cost.
Maksym Bevs, head of the Razom We Stand campaign group for renewable energy and green reconstruction of Ukraine at the Razom We Stand initiative, told Euractiv that for a generating site, "if a rocket flies there, replacing a few solar panels is not a difficult task," but "if it's a coal-fired generator , it cannot be repaired".
What are the current obstacles to the rapid development of RES in Ukraine
First, this financing issues. To ensure the installation of wind turbines and solar panels throughout Ukraine, it is necessary to invest up to $15 billion (€13.84 billion) to launch the country's energy transition based on the national energy grid operator Ukrenergo.
According to Bevz, "state financing of RES has never been started."
Secondly, the expert pointed to problems with the structure of the energy market of Ukraine. He claims that "the systems in the regions remain in the hands of monopolies, which claim to be a new decentralized energy market."
Thirdly, this lack of legal basis. A Ukrainian specialist in green energy said that "some communities are trying to create new microgrids with the help of foreign grants and assistance from abroad, but the lack of a legal framework does not provide transparent answers for the operation of such decentralized generators."
Further plans
In addition to the reconstruction planning objective, URC24 offered investors the opportunity to potentially invest in Ukraine's growing renewable energy market.
It is already known that according to the results of the conference, there are a number of companies that are ready to enter the Ukrainian market and will help in the future to build 1 GW of generating capacity. At the same time, the volume of potential investments can amount to €500-700 million.
Photo: unn.ua
Earlier, EcoPolitic reported that during the International Conference on the Restoration of Ukraine URC2024 an agreement was signed on the creation of an International Action Platform for the Green Restoration of Ukraine.
