Ukrainian photovoltaic energy storage power station solution

“Solar power plants can help Ukrainian society,” Sokolovskyi says, by giving energy independence to private citizens and businesses. Moreover, support for critical infrastructure like hospitals, clinics and schools – the kind of work Semenyshyn's Repower Ukraine does – often comes from PV and energy storage combined.

Figures from the Solar Energy Association of Ukraine (SEAU) earlier this year showed that the country added around 850MW of solar PV capacity in 2024, the majority of which came from self-consumption systems installed by businesses. It's “become a trend”, Semenyshyn says.

Following three years of bombardments and damage to its energy infrastructure, Ukrainian businesses are turning to self-consumption solar PV systems to keep the lights on.

The ongoing war in Ukraine has been a catalyst for PV and storage deployment. Image: Oleg Ivanov via Unsplash. When the shelling gets worse, sales of renewable energy systems increase; when it eases, demand subsides until the shelling starts again. “It's pretty funny,” says Artem Semenyshyn, board member at RePower Ukraine Charitable Foundation.

Energy has been a major target for Russian drones and missiles throughout the war, with an intensification from the spring of 2024; at the time of writing, news broke overnight that Moscow had carried out a “massive” missile attack on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.

From a PV standpoint, Sokolovskyi predicts that “80%” of new PV plants will be built with storage (largely due to the grid challenges) but that “we won't see [a return of] large-scale projects this year.” Whenever the war ends, he expects a “boom” for Ukrainian PV investment as the gaping hole opened by the attacks will need to be filled.