Barriers in legislation hinder wind energy development — Ukrainian Wind Energy Association official

Ukraine plans to implement several wind farm construction projects that could provide about 500 megawatts of energy generation next year. However, Ukrainian legislation sometimes hinders the development of wind energy. This was stated by Andriy Konechenkov, chairman of the board of the Ukrainian Wind Energy Association, in an interview with Hromadske Radio.

«Before the full-scale war, we had nearly 1.9 gigawatts of installed wind capacity. Unfortunately, about 71% of our wind farms are now located in occupied territory. Despite this, three wind farms were built over the past year and a half, in the Mykolaiv, Odesa, and Lviv regions,» Konechenkov said.

According to him, Ukrenergo recently presented a decentralization plan for Ukraine, under which work on green energy projects is progressing. Most of these projects will be located in the western part of the country. Particularly in Volyn, Rivne, Lviv, Zakarpattia, Khmelnytskyi, and Vinnytsia regions.

Konechenkov noted that at least five projects are either ready for construction or have already started. If there are no state-imposed barriers, they could provide 500 megawatts of new energy by 2025.

«Overall, we expect to commission three to four gigawatts by 2027, which will partially compensate for the losses we’ve suffered due to damage to thermal power plants,» he said.

Wind power demonstrated its efficiency in December 2022. During widespread power outages across the country, wind farms supplied 25% of Odesa Region’s electricity needs.

«If a missile hits a thermal power plant or transformer substation during shelling, almost all power generation stops. In contrast, it’s much harder for a missile to hit a wind turbine. Even if one turbine is damaged, the others will continue working. Solar energy operates in a similar way,» Konechenkov explained.

However, he pointed out that legislation sometimes creates obstacles for green energy development in Ukraine.

«We face legislative barriers that hinder wind power development. For example, a recent law exempted gas piston and gas stations from value-added tax when imported from abroad, but, at the last moment, the provision allowing the import of wind power plants was removed. The Verkhovna Rada has now registered a draft law that could fix this.»

Konechenkov emphasized that wind power has an advantage over solar energy because it doesn’t depend on light, making it efficient throughout the day and year-round.

On August 13, the government approved the National Renewable Energy Action Plan for the period up to 2030, with the goal of increasing the share of renewable energy to 27% by that time.