The first webinar in the 2024 UWEA Webinar series was held on February 20, 2024. It was devoted to some peculiarities of connecting wind projects to the electricity grid.
The complicated and imperfect grid connection procedure is currently at the heart of many expert discussions and RES industry events in Ukraine. Thus, within this webinar, the UWEA together with its member companies IKNET Energy Engineering and LCF Law Group talked about such important issues related to the WPP grid connection procedure as electrical mode calculation and the energy storage potential impact on Ukraine’s grid. Oleksandr Zhyhalyuk, Head of the Transmission System Development Department at the NPC Ukrenergo also took part in the discussion. The webinar was moderated by Andriy Konechenkov, Chairman of the UWEA Board.
In his presentation, Yuriy Podolyak, CEO of IKNET Energy Engineering, outlined the company’s experience in calculating electrical modes based on real cases. Also, he pointed out the necessary conditions for connecting a wind farm that will be crucial in the coming years. ‘‘Grid connection is one of the main challenges for further wind deployment in Ukraine. Damages to the Ukrainian integrated power system caused by russian missile attacks, Ukraine’s power system synchronization with ENTSO-E, and the development of energy storage facilities directly influence this process. At the same time, new legislative initiatives that are planned for introduction in Ukraine will positively affect the procedure. In any case, investors can rely on IKNET’s assistance in the development of wind projects in Ukraine,’’ Mr. Podolyak said.
Ivan Bondarchuk, Counsel, Head of Energy and Natural Resources Practice at LCF Law Group, UWEA Board Member: ‘‘The current grid connection procedure poses significant risks for large-scale wind power projects. The developer is currently faced with the dilemma of either investing without any guarantee and conditions for grid connection or concluding an agreement with the grid operator and hoping to have time to build a wind farm in three years. Both options are for sure, too optimistic. Therefore, the UWEA together with the national regulator, Ministry of Energy, and NPC Ukrenergo are jointly developing a booking capacity mechanism for new RES projects. The purpose of this mechanism is to offer extra time for the development of such projects and guarantee a grid connection. According to the procedure, the developer will pay a guarantee fee which will be credited to the wind farm grid connection cost or, if the investor abandons the project, the money will be used for the development of power grids by NPC Ukrenergo.”
Oleksandr Zhyhalyuk, commented on colleagues’ visions and presentations and noted plans for the development of the national electrical grids, including the increase of interconnector capacity. “The laws that regulate the current grid connection procedure are designed to make it as simple and transparent as possible, in other words, to choose the most cost-effective option,” Mr. Zhyhalyuk underlined. He also confirmed the importance of connecting combined RES-energy storage facilities, which is common practice worldwide. Therefore, this issue is one of the priorities for the TSO’s activity.
