The Race to Rebuild Ukraine's Energy Infrastructure | Deep Dive 02: Andrii Gerus & Dmytro Boroday

Can you make energy investments work in a country at war? Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, repeated attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure have devastated its power system. By spring 2024, the country’s dispatchable generating capacity had fallen from 38 GW before the war to just 12 GW, leaving electricity in short supply and heating disrupted for many households. For this week’s Deep Dive Ukraine, Michael Liebreich is in Kyiv speaking to Andrii Gerus, Chair of the Ukrainian Parliament's Committee on Energy, Housing and Utility Services, and Dmytro Boroday, Partner at Horizon Capital, about the race to rebuild Ukraine's energy infrastructure, and the capital needed to make it happen. They examine how Ukraine is attracting international investors into wind, solar and battery storage, why distributed generation makes commercial as well as strategic sense, and how political risk insurance and development finance institutions are helping unlock projects. They also discuss the regulatory reforms needed to attract private capital, the challenge of corruption, and the potential for Ukraine to export electricity to neighbouring European markets. Topics covered in this episode: - Ukraine's energy system under attack - The shift to distributed generation - Why renewables strengthen energy resilience - What winter is like to live through - Financing energy projects during war - War risk insurance for private investors - Attracting international capital into Ukraine - Ukraine's future in European electricity markets **Leadership Circle:** Cleaning Up is proud to be supported by its Leadership Circle. The members are Actis, Alcazar Energy, Arup, Climate Imperative Foundation, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, Cygnum Capital, Davidson Kempner, EcoPragma Capital, EDP, Eurelectric, KKR, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, National Grid, Octopus Energy, Quadrature Climate Foundation, Schneider Electric, SDCL and Wärtsilä. For more information on the Leadership Circle, please visit cleaningup.live. **Links:** - Andrii Gerus’ bio: https://forumkyiv.org/en/speakers/andrii-gerus - Dmytro Boroday’s bio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmitryboroday/ - Horizon Capital: https://horizoncapital.com.ua/ - European Energy Community fund: https://www.energy-community.org/Ukraine/Fund/overview.html - Subscribe to our newsletter: https://cleaninguppod.substack.com/ **Acronyms:** - CHP: Combined Heat and Power - TSO: Transmission System Operator - DSO: Distribution System Operators - IRR: Internal Rate of Return - IC: Investment Committee - GP: General Partner - LP: Limited Partner - EBRD: European Bank for Reconstruction Development - IFC: International Finance Corporation - DFI: Direct Foreign Investment - PPA: Power Purchasing Agreement - BESS: Battery Energy Storage System - MIGA: Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency **Chapters:** - 0:00 Intro - 1:06 Ukraine's Energy Crisis - 3:29 Soviet Energy System - 6:46 War Damage - 10:09 Distributed Energy - 13:31 Attracting Investors - 17:03 War Risk Insurance - 21:19 Corruption and Reform - 27:04 Investing in Reconstruction - 35:16 Financing New Renewables - 41:03 Investing During War - 47:26 Insurance Against War - 51:26 Invitation To Investors - 53:58 Outro