Ukraine built "green" energy networks that are more difficult to destroy - AP

During the UN climate negotiations in Azerbaijan, Maxim Timchenko, CEO of the largest private power company DTEK, showed schedules of electricity supply in 2024. The total amount of electricity falls when the Russian rocket affects the thermal, windy or solar power plant and increases when energy is restored. "What kind of choice do we have?" Maxim Timchenko commented in an interview.

"Sit, wait and pray so that they do not hit us or did our work and do not return the light of our people?" Russian strikes are part of the energy infrastructure campaign to reduce electricity supply to Ukraine on the eve of winter. However, the decentralized nature of renewable energy, including wind and sun, enabled Ukrainians to quickly restore power supply in conditions where it cannot be done with coal or other traditional power plants.

In centralized systems, all energy is generated and sent to the network transmission lines from the same area. If the station is affected by the rocket explosion, the entire network or most of it may disconnect. Wind and solar installations are distributed and less depend on each other, so one successful hit of the Russian Federation will be less harm. If the solar installation is located on the roof and feeds only a specific building, then the loss will be even lower.

A good example is the attack on two DTEK solar power plants last spring. As a result, many solar panels and some transformers have been destroyed, which increase long distances or reduce it for use in homes. Replacing transformers and replacing the destroyed panels enabled farms that produce 400 megawatts to restore seven days. According to Maxim Timchenko, the heat station, which suffered similar losses, had to restore three to four months.

Thus, decentralized generation is more resistant to shocks and it is more difficult to destroy. Jeffrey Piett, Assistant Secretary of the US Department of Energy Resources Bureau and former Ambassador to Ukraine, said Russian attacks on energy infrastructure were evolved. In 2022 and 2023, they were focused on transformers. Defense forces were effectively protected from these blows, so since March 2024, Vladimir Putin changed tactics and aimed at generating enterprises.

Since then, about 50% of all electricity production in Ukraine has been decommissioned, mainly nuclear power, a little hydropower and large new projects in the field of renewable energy sources, such as a wind power plant built by DTEK. Renewable and other infrastructure projects are financed by partnerships between governments and business, which allows to distribute risks, since there is no guarantee that the built will not be destroyed.

In June, the GE Vernova turbine manufacturer and the Honeywell manufacturer announced DTEK's cooperation plans for large wind energy and energy storage in Ukraine. "We are satisfied with the fact that Ukraine has done something that no one has ever done, namely, retained the power system in the war," said Roger Martella, Director of Sustainable Development GE Vernova. Jeffrey Piett added that he sees wide support for Ukraine with G7 countries in the field of energy.

According to him, for the new US President Donald Trump Ukraine will continue to support any development. "If you start attracting major American companies, such as GE, Fluxus and Honeywell, to reconstruct the energy system, then billions of dollars will be needed to reconstruct the energy system," he said. Earlier they wrote that in Ukraine can install wind turbines with a capacity of 800 MW. Energy Minister Herman Galushchenko announced plans to increase the wind generation in 2025.