On 21 April 2026, as part of the WindEurope Annual Event 2026 in Madrid, UWEA organised the panel discussion “Human Capital – the Key to the Development of Renewables in Ukraine”, dedicated to the role of human capital in the development of the renewable energy sector.
The discussion was moderated by Ivan Bondarchuk, First Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Ukrainian Wind Energy Association and partner at LCF Law Group. Representatives of development companies, international equipment manufacturers and personnel-development experts – UWEA members – took part in the discussion.
According to Alina Shyshkina, Deputy Executive Director of ETG.UA, for small and medium-sized projects with a capacity of up to 100 MW in Ukraine, a sufficient basic personnel resource in the field of construction currently remains. At the same time, the market is already experiencing a noticeable shortage of specialists in more complex segments – in particular in engineering, electrical works, commissioning and the operational management of wind farms. As a result, the availability of qualified personnel is increasingly being taken into account by developers and investors as a separate risk when making investment decisions and reaching the FID stage.
Olena Umanets, Director of Navitas Renewables Ukraine, stressed that Ukraine’s renewable energy market needs to scale up local teams to handle the growing volume of new projects, in particular the portfolio planned for construction from 2027. At the same time, the level of qualification and practical experience of personnel remains a key challenge, as it directly affects the quality and timing of project implementation. In this context, the development of local training and specialist-preparation programmes in Ukraine should become a priority for the market.
Anzhela Pradun, Director of Vestas Ukraine, emphasised that the issues of contractor certification and the expansion of warranty or service obligations are directly linked to risk management and quality assurance. For local companies to be integrated into the company’s service and installation ecosystem, it is necessary to comply with clearly defined technical and safety standards, complete certified training programmes, have a proven track record of project implementation, maintain effective HSE processes, and undergo regular audits and quality control. Provided these conditions are met, Vestas is open to certifying local contractors and deepening cooperation with them.
In turn, Sara Petriser-Hansen, head of the Danish organisation Mentor to Impact, stressed that the development of renewable energy sources depends inextricably on the high-quality training of specialists for the sector, with an emphasis on educating students and re-skilling professionals who are transitioning into the renewable energy sector. According to her, the key to solving the personnel issue lies precisely in consolidating the efforts of all market participants — from state institutions and private companies to the public sector.
Summing up the discussion, Ivan Bondarchuk noted that the development of renewable energy in Ukraine increasingly depends not only on financing or the regulatory environment, but also on the availability of high-quality human capital. According to him, the market is already facing constraints in the availability of qualified personnel, which is beginning to affect implementation timelines and project economics, and therefore must be taken into account as a fully fledged risk factor. At the same time, an effective response to this challenge is possible only through the coordinated cooperation of all market participants – with a focus on the systematic development, training and re-skilling of personnel in Ukraine.
