Complex Situation

Each and every heating season in Ukraine puts the topic of energy onto the political agenda.

The past autumn is no exception, provoking lots of talk regarding the availability of gas and coal at storages, record global gas prices, attempts to put Nord Stream 2 into commercial operation, challenges for generation capacities, emerging electricity imports from Belarus and the possibility of local blackouts. The key issues are the results of Russia’s geopolitical strategy to blackmail Europe. To be fair, a significant chunk of problems come from the Soviet legacy, as energy efficiency in the household sector was not properly reformed.

In the final issue of 2021, our contributors have touched upon the issues of green hydrogen, potential of biomethane, and implementation of European regulations on the integrity and transparency of the wholesale energy market, which are known as REMIT.

With the rapid increase in renewable energy projects in recent years, we still observe a crisis around the feed-in tariff and the state’s commitments. We discussed the situation on the electricity market, fate of existing renewable projects and restoring the confidence of investors with Ivan Bondarchuk, counsel at LCF Law Group.

Given the big presence of the political factor in this issue, Ukraine finds itself in a complex situation, and not for the first time. It means that lots of work needs to be done, while postponements and delays merely equate to wastefulness.

Season’s Greetings from the UJBL team!