Keeping the lights on in times of grid outages

Round table on renewable energies for emergency power supply in Ukraine.

Since 2018, the IKI project "Low Carbon Ukraine" has been supporting the Ukrainian government in achieving its climate targets for 2030, with a focus on implementing climate goals as part of the country's green reconstruction after the Russian war of aggression. 

Together with the German Energy Agency (dena), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the NGO Energy Act for Ukraine, the IKI project organised a roundtable in April 2023 titled “Keeping the lights on in times of grid outages." The event provided participants with a framework for an in-depth exchange on the project activities of the International Climate Initiative (IKI) and the German-Ukrainian Energy Partnership regarding analytical and practical aspects of decentralising the Ukrainian energy system in times of war. The roundtable also introduced the upcoming IKI project Renewables for Resilient Ukraine – R2U. 

The event began with brief opening remarks by the Ukrainian Deputy Energy Minister Yaroslav Demchenkov and Deputy Ambassador of the German Embassy in Kyiv Dr Bertram von Moltke. At the beginning of the conference, Dinara Saparova, an Energy and Climate Policy Analyst at Low Carbon Ukraine, presented a recent policy briefing on the economic and energy security benefits of distributed energy sources. Anastasiia Vereshchynska, the Partnerships Manager at Energy Act for Ukraine Foundation, then shared with the audience recent experiences with installing and implementing decentralised solar projects at Ukrainian schools and hospitals, including successes and challenges.

Denys Tsutsaiev from Greenpeace Central and Eastern Europe subsequently shared his experience with the green reconstruction and installation of Horenka hospital and Kostiantyn Krynytskyi, Head of the Energy Department at Ecoaction, presented on Ukrainian NGOs’ advocacy for the “greening” of Ukraine’s emergency energy aid. During the conference, Senior Expert in Infrastructure and Energy Systems at German Energy Agency (dena), Yannick Severin dos Santos, also presented an overview of Building a Resilient and Decentralised Electricity Distribution System. 

The conference concluded with a discussion and Q&A regarding the role of decentralised energy sources and the roll-out of renewables in Ukraine’s current war-time context, as well as the pathways to building a more cost-optimal, green, resilient and economically competitive energy sector.

This article has been edited and published in its original version on the website of the Low Carbon Ukraine project 
 

Country page Ukraine