Post by European-Ukrainian Energy Agency

How much does the absence of energy storage cost Ukraine's power system? Ukrenergo is already doing the math. ⚡ The situation is hard to ignore. A country struggling with electricity shortages from destroyed generation capacity is simultaneously being forced to curtail perfectly operational plants. Not because of an attack or an accident, not on anyone's orders. Simply because midday brings a specific combination: nuclear units running at steady baseload, utility-scale solar hitting its peak output, and demand that falls short of absorbing what the system is producing. Consumers compound the effect by switching to self-consumption from their own installations, pulling even less from the grid. The daytime surplus reaches 3 GW, and the system has nowhere to send it. 💰 Ukrenergo curtails renewables and compensates producers from the transmission tariff. This is not a penalty or a regulatory failure — it is a mechanism the system was designed around. But compensation volumes are climbing, and the tariff was never sized to keep pace. CEO Vitaliy Zaichenko is blunt: by the end of 2026, the funds may be exhausted. Ukrenergo has already approached NEURC to request a tariff revision and a higher ceiling on curtailment costs. That bill will ultimately land with consumers. 🌙 Come evening, the picture inverts. Solar drops off, demand climbs, and the same system that was shedding surplus hours earlier is now looking for it. 🔋 Energy storage breaks this cycle. It absorbs excess generation during the day and returns it to the system when demand peaks. Private companies are already building storage assets and are ready to do more. EUEA has spent two years working closely with the Ukrainian Parliament, Cabinet of Ministers, and energy regulator to improve the framework for private-sector participation in hybrid projects and standalone storage. Source: interview with Vitaliy Zaichenko, Interfax-Ukraine