distributed Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations *Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a varia ...

solar power in Ukraine is urgently needed to secure

electricity in Ukraine Electricity is an important part of energy in Ukraine. Most electricity generation is Nuclear power in Ukraine, nuclear, and the system is inflexible. The bulk of Energoatom output is sold to the government's "guaranteed buyer" to keep prices m ...

, according to the IEA. During the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, the Merefa solar energy plant in the Kharkiv region was destroyed by Russia; damage was also reported at the Tokmak solar energy plant in the Zaporizhia region. Solar and

wind power in Ukraine Wind power in Ukraine is mostly in areas affected by the Russo-Ukrainian War. At the end of 2021 there was 1.7 gigawatts (GW) capacity of electricity in Ukraine was wind power. In 2024 the IEA suggested installing 11 GW more by 2030. History By ...

could be greatly expanded to meet much of the country’s electricity demand.

History

In 1985 there was (SES-5, 5MW), first and last build solar station in

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

near town of

Shcholkine Shcholkine ( ; ; ), also commonly known as Shchelkino or Shchyolkino by its Russian name, is a small city in the Lenine Raion of Crimea. Geographically, Shcholkine is located near the headland of Kazantyp, on a peninsula jutting northward out int ...

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

. It was stopped in 1990s and demolished afterwards. In 2011, 90% of electricity came from nuclear and coal. In order to reduce this,

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

adopted a

feed-in tariff A feed-in tariff (FIT, FiT, standard offer contract,Couture, T., Cory, K., Kreycik, C., Williams, E., (2010)Policymaker's Guide to Feed-in Tariff Policy Design National Renewable Energy Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy advanced renewable tariff, ...

(FIT) which was one of the highest in the world - UAH 5.0509 (EUR 0.46) per kWh. Europe's largest solar park at the time, the 100 MW Perove Solar Park (now overtaken by Nikopol solar park) was completed at the end of 2011. In 2019 DTEK inaugurated 240 MW solar plant in Ukraine. The government announced in the law on green auctions, adopted in April 2019, that the feed in tariffs would be replaced by an auction based quota system coming in force in 2020 for all solar PV systems greater than 1 MW, which if applied effectively could facilitate a larger and sustainable solar development in the country. Households in 2020 will still be able to obtain a green FIT tariff for systems up to 50 kW in size which can be either rooftop or ground mounted solar systems.

Installed capacity

The latest information about installed solar energy capacity in Ukraine, is kept up to date by the national power company

Ukrenergo The Private JSC NEK Ukrenergo is a state-owned electricity transmission system operator in Ukraine and the sole operator of the high-voltage lines which transmit electricity in Ukraine. It is a member of the European Network of Transmission Syste ...

. *407,9 MW SPP - is in the occupied territory of the Crimea

Rooftop solar power

Solar on residential rooftops is popular for saving on electricity bills, which rose in the mid-2020s. Solar is also suitable for many

small and medium-sized enterprises Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by many national agencies and international organiza ...

. At the beginning of 2022 there was 1.2 GW of household solar, of which it is estimated 280 MW had been destroyed by the end of 2024. The IEA estimate that if all (excluding north-facing) roofs had panels 290 TWh could be generated. Households in Ukraine tend on average to have larger rooftop solar PV systems than in other countries. The feed in tariff is available for larger systems and from 2020 may be up to 50 kW and can be both rooftop or ground mounted. In March 2019 the power of residential solar was an average of 21.5 kW per family. By Q3 2019 the total installed capacity of installed solar in households was 280 MW, a 100 fold increase on 2015 levels, and the investment of households in solar energy amounted to EUR 240 million. The largest residential solar systems in 2019 were installed in households in

Dnipro Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...

, Ternopil and Kyiv regions (including

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

). These three regions account for more than a third of all households using solar energy.

Large scale solar power parks

In Spring 2024 solar helped the country to export power during the daytime.

Economics

In 2019, changes were announced to the Ukrainian energy market operations that have significant impacts on the growth and operation of large scale solar facilities in Ukraine. These include a new generous feed-in-tariff scheme and the requirement for solar energy facilities to provide their own energy generation forecasts. The head of the Ukrainian Association of Renewable Energy, writing in 2024, said that solar farms were no longer profitable because they were being curtailed so much to stabilise the grid. He said that the grid could be made more stable by improving interconnection with other

ENTSO-E The European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) is an association representing 40 electricity transmission system operators (TSOs) from 36 countries across Europe, thus extending beyond EU borders. It manages the ...

countries.

Resilience

Although solar farms have been attacked, they are generally more resilient than large gas and coal-fired power stations. as damaged panels and transformers can be quickly replaced. However all solar farms in the Kharkiv region are said to have been destroyed.

References

{{Renewable energy by country