Serhii Kravchuk on the development of “green” energy in the midst of war and European integration

Within the framework of  ІХ Business & Legal Energy Forum, Serhii Kravchuk, Director of Electricity Trading and Supply in KNESS, took part in an open interview on the topic “Green transformation of Ukraine in the midst of war and European integration”.

The expert spoke about how the war affected the development of renewable energy sources, changes in legislation, and the development of energy storage facilities in Ukraine.

Key insights from Serhii Kravchuk’s expert interview:

• The current realities have become a catalyst for the development of distributed generation and renewable energy sources in general, as they have a key advantage, that is the option to be located near the consumer and operate without being bound to any fuel resource. In 2023, the Law of Ukraine No. 3220-IX was adopted, which strengthened the development of renewable energy sources and has now created the conditions for the introduction of new mechanisms with a focus on the consumer as a full-fledged and active participant in the electricity market.
• Ukraine is moving in a systematic and consistent way to implement energy reforms, in particular, the implementation of the EU’s 4th Energy Package. These regulations are quite important and timely for all market participants, including electricity consumers, who, in case of installing their own generation source, can sell excess electricity to the grid and/or participate in demand-side management activities either independently or through the Aggregator. Guarantees of Origin are introduced for electricity producers from renewable energy sources, as well as active consumers, which can provide additional liquidity.
• In general, the current legislative and regulatory environment allows for the continued development of RES and the construction of new energy facilities, including energy storage facilities. Currently, a significant amount of the EU’s 4th Energy Reform Package has already been implemented which accelerates the possibility of full integration of the energy markets of Ukraine and the EU countries.
• KNESS has its own balancing group, which includes more than 200 MW of solar, wind, biogas and small hydro power plants operating under market conditions.

Moreover, Serhii Kravchuk noted that the area of energy aggregation is currently being actively developed,  which will allow managing decentralized generation sources and energy storage facilities, which in turn will increase the reliability of the power system.