As of the third year of the full-scale war with russia, Ukraine’s wind energy industry, although still slowly, continues to develop. Despite the fact that, compared to 2023, 2024 turned out to be rather modest in terms of newly added wind energy capacity, companies continue to implement new projects in Central and Western Ukraine, conduct negotiations on attracting international capital, and invest in a more sustainable and import-independent energy system for Ukraine. This is discussed, in particular, in the released Market Review “The Wind Energy Sector of Ukraine 2024” (the Review), which UWEA traditionally prepares based on the results of each calendar year. The UWEA Review is not just a statistical document, but a comprehensive analysis of the state of the industry over the past year, its main problems and the ways for its further development.
The Review for 2024 was prepared by UWEA in cooperation with the law firms Asters and Altelaw, members of UWEA, and structurally consists of sections devoted to the analysis of: key wind energy trends in Europe and the world; the structure of Ukraine’s energy balance; the achievements and challenges of the Ukrainian wind energy sector; the industry’s legislative changes that were adopted in 2024 and are expected to be adopted in the coming years, as well as UWEA’s annual activity. Considerable attention in the Review is paid to the implemented and announced renewables support mechanisms in Ukraine. Also, the Review contains an analysis of the current legal mechanisms of interaction between developers and investors and describes the essence of the commercial risk guarantee fund, the creation of which was initiated by UWEA last year. A special feature of the Review for 2024 is the analysis of a new segment of Ukraine’s wind energy market, namely projects with second-hand wind installations.
The Review also collects separate thematic articles, specially provided to UWEA by the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine, the SE “Guaranteed Buyer”, the Institute of General Energy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, as well as such member companies of the Association as the MC “Wind Parks of Ukraine”, LLC “Friendly Windtechnology”, DTEK Renewables, Notus Energy and Elementum Energy.
Some conclusions from the Review:
1. A course towards decentralisation. Ukraine continues the active transformation of its energy system. The main emphasis is placed on distributed generation, which allows regions to reduce their dependence on centralised capacities and increase energy security. The key strategic documents on this issue are the National Energy and Climate Plan and the National Action Plan for Renewable Energy for the period up to 2030, as well as the Strategy for the Development of Distributed Generation for the period up to 2035. The national goal is to achieve a 27% share of renewables in gross final energy consumption by 2030, which requires increasing the national wind energy capacity by at least 4 GW.
2. The current state of the onshore wind energy market. In 2024, 20.6 MW of new wind energy capacity was added to Ukraine’s overall power system, and the total capacity of the industry reached 1,921.4 MW (including wind farms located in the temporarily occupied territories, but excluding the AR of Crimea). Also, the market for second-hand wind installations began to develop in the country, the total installed capacity of which reached 32 MW. However, despite the modest growth rates, 2024 became a year of preparation for the implementation of new large wind farms, the construction of which is expected in 2025–2026.
3. Key market challenges. Still relevant for the market remain
