On September 21-22, 2023, CSIS Doing Business in Ukraine Conference was successfully held in Washington, DC.
The Conference brought together Ukrainian leaders from the private sector and government and representatives from multinational companies, the Biden Administration, and the U.S. Congress to discuss Ukrainian business and trade opportunities with the U.S. and G-7 allies.
The conference participants focused on short-term actions to restore the country’s transport infrastructure, energy, and agricultural sectors, and attract foreign investors to finance these projects. They discussed immediate and long-term obstacles to investment in Ukraine and practical solutions to address these problems.
The UWEA was represented at the conference by the UWEA Board Chairman, Andriy Konechenkov, and two Board members – Ivan Bondarchuk, Counsel, Head of Energy and Natural Resources Practice at LCF Law Group, and Mykhailo Chulkov, Director of EUROCAPE Ukraine 1 LLC. The Energy Panel of the conference attracted great attention, with participants discussing the role of renewable energy sources in creating a more sustainable energy system in Ukraine and the most efficient integration of renewable energy sources into the country’s energy system and energy efficiency. Speakers highlighted current challenges and risks and what policies should be in place to strengthen investor confidence in Ukraine’s energy sector.
Speaking about Ukraine’s energy efficiency transformation Hanna Zamazeyeva, Head of the State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving, noted: “The energy saving potential in the Ukraine’s household sector is 50-60%, in industry – more than 30%, in transport – 5-10%. This means tens of billions of dollars of investment. There are resources for cogeneration plants, biomethane production, waste recycling projects, creation of hydrogen hubs, etc.”
Andriy Konechenkov, Chairman of the UWEA Board, focused on the wide opportunities for investing in the national wind energy sector: “There are several successful cases of US-Ukraine cooperation in wind energy sector. To build investor confidence in Ukraine’s energy sector, The following steps I believe, should be taken as priority: establishment of a state insurance fund to provide financing for projects and removing currency restrictions imposed by the National Bank of Ukraine on the purchase of foreign currency and cross-border currency payments to non-residents for the purpose of servicing loan obligations and paying dividends. Today, currency restrictions limit investors’ interests in both existing and new external financing. Such restrictions were introduced during martial law in Ukraine and I hope that it will be lifted soon.”
Removing manual management of the electricity market and cross-subsidy, combined with simplification of the permitting procedure and introduction of a mechanism for risk insurance, including military risks, optimization of the use of energy and road transport infrastructure, and creation of conditions for the production of wind energy equipment in Ukraine are all immediate steps towards the “green” reconstruction and transformation of the energy sector in Ukraine. As in the EU, wind energy projects should be considered as “projects of overriding public interest” in Ukraine.
