Serhiy Kravchuk, Director of KNESS Energy, Candidate of Technical Sciences, believes that without the earliest introduction of energy storage systems (ESS), ensuring the energy independence of our country is impossible.
The outdated energy system of Ukraine, which in recent decades has been based mainly on the operation of large coal and nuclear power plants, has been characterized by significant volatility with the advent of renewable energy sources (RES) and prosumers. The process of integration of renewable energy facilities into the energy system requires greater flexibility of the energy system, which, unfortunately, we still do not have. Taking into account the world’s leading experience, it is necessary to use ESS to increase the flexibility of the energy system. As in the European market, in particular in Italy, Spain and Portugal. Energy storage systems there participate in the ancillary services market in order to optimize electricity production by balancing load schedules. Moreover, for Ukraine, it is simply a need to integrate the Ukrainian energy system into the energy system of continental Europe (ENTSO-E).
“Currently, the unified power system of Ukraine can be described as inflexible, as a large proportion of the generation has low maneuverability or work in a load base. It’s like, for example, nuclear power plants, which in the first half of this year produced about 60% of all electricity, “- said Sergei Kravchuk.
In Hungary, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Slovakia and Poland, the market for energy storage systems is already developing and in these countries there are already rules for connecting such systems to the grid and their operation in the market. Ukraine is only at the stage of implementing the ESS. So far, only one pilot project has been built and put into operation. This is a single-megawatt drive located in the city of Energodar, Zaporozhye region.
“Changes are needed to the regulatory environment: the Transmission System Code, the Distribution System Code, the Retail Market Rules and the Electricity Market Rules, in principle,” Kravchuk said.
Therefore, an important step for the full operation of the ESS in the electricity market in Ukraine is the formation of the necessary legal framework.
“A total of five bills on energy storage systems have been submitted to the Verkhovna Rada, one of which has already been approved by the Energy Community,” adds the director of KNESS Energy.
The purpose of the submitted bills is to introduce a separate status for energy storage systems, to establish the need to obtain a license to conduct this type of economic activity, as well as to determine the entity that manages this electrical installation.
It is expected that the introduction of energy storage systems will affect the economic development of the country and attract new investment from foreign companies. However, until the amendments to the legislation are adopted, the ESS can be connected either as an object of generation or as an object of consumption. Such conditions do not allow to build an attractive investment project with adequate payback. Therefore, it is a quality legal driver that will affect the attractiveness of projects that are vital to us to eliminate imbalances in the grid.
As a result, if the energy system of Ukraine has sufficient energy storage capacity, the limitation of RES will decrease, and this is a significant contribution to the decarbonization of our country. In particular, this is how Ukraine will continue to fulfill its commitments to the EU to increase the share of “green” energy, so the energy storage system is the heart of Ukraine’s energy independence.
Thus, the introduction of new ESS technologies will increase the reliability of Ukraine’s energy system. For now, we will hope for real support from the people’s deputies of Ukraine in creating the necessary legislative environment.