MANAGING THE ENERGY RESTORATION SYSTEM OF UKRAINE DURING THE WAR: ENSURING SECURITY AND IMPLEMENTING INNOVATIONS

Abstract

Two years have passed since the last statistical data on the damage caused by the military aggression of the Russian Federation to the Ukrainian energy sector was published. During this time, the nuclear and renewable energy sectors have shown a tendency to stabilization of their activity. However, in the thermal and hydropower sectors, the amount of damage has increased many times over as large infrastructure facilities have become a priority target for Russian military systematical attacks. In the thermal power sector, a large number of business entities have realized the futility of reviving large-scale generation and are therefore restoring it through innovative small-scale and decentralized projects. In large frontline cities, as Kharkiv, these projects mostly involve the construction of modular boiler houses and mini-cogeneration plants, and in rural communities, the installation of biomass fuel boilers. However, in the large hydropower sector, the sector monopolist “Ukrhydroenergo” has not yet realized the futility of reviving large-scale generation, so it plans to invest 123,000,000 $ in the restoration of large facilities that are not protected from repeated attacks by Russia and have not an innovative basis. From the very beginning, the renewable energy sector has been completely innovative. Therefore, despite the sectoral problems left over from the pre-war era, the sector is recovering thanks to its attractiveness for private investments. The structure of investors has changed from predominantly foreign to predominantly Ukrainian. The first reason is a decrease in foreign investments due to the military threats and risks. The second reason is an increase in domestic investments due to the release of resources from large thermal power companies. In the nuclear energy sector, the industry monopolist “Energoatom” is launching projects to replace the occupied facilities of Zaporizhzhia NPP with new nuclear reactors at South Ukrainian and Khmelnytsky NPPs with the help of international donors. The construction of 9 of them will be based on innovative technology from “Westinghouse”.