Shanghai Time and Hidden Consumption: Maximilian Moravskyi on Non-Obvious Threats When Installing BESS in Ukraine

11.03.2026

On February 25, a closed online meeting “BESS Insider” took place, bringing together 32 representatives of Energy Club member companies. This event was organized as a platform for an open exchange of experience. The goal of the meeting was to provide club members with an opportunity to frankly discuss real cases, technical connection challenges, and analyze problems that businesses face in practice when implementing Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) projects.

During the discussion, Maximilian Moravskyi, CEO and founder of Interconti Trading, shared unique experience in adapting equipment to Ukrainian realities. The expert emphasized: domestic power grids are currently operating in modes that most global manufacturers simply did not include in their algorithms.

As an example, he cited a situation where, after power restoration, the grid voltage is 7–8 kV instead of the nominal 10 kV. In such conditions, standard equipment refuses to start. To solve this problem, engineers had to implement additional algorithms: the storage system independently forms and maintains the facility’s local network until the external voltage stabilizes.

The speaker paid special attention to problems arising when businesses try to save by independently purchasing equipment from China. Maximilian highlighted three critical pitfalls of this approach:

1. Lack of dispatching. The equipment often lacks support for the IEC protocol, which is mandatory for communication with Oblenergos or Ukrenergo.
2. Collapse of the financial model. The actual self-consumption of such units is sometimes 2.5–3 times higher than stated in the data sheet, which “eats up” all the planned project economics.
3. Time zone failure. After updates, systems often reset to factory settings — the interface becomes Chinese, and the time changes to Shanghai time. Due to the 6-hour difference, trading schedules on the Day-Ahead Market (DAM) shift, leading to direct financial losses.

It was these challenges that prompted the company to develop its own software with elements of artificial intelligence. The system independently analyzes weather, historical generation, consumption profile, and DAM prices, making decisions: when to buy energy, when to direct it to self-consumption, and when to sell at the maximum price. Currently, this software is already successfully integrated with solar, hydro, and gas piston plants.

Finally, Maximilian gave practical advice to investors: even at the procurement stage, order an expanded list of spare parts (circuit breakers, contactors, control modules) and plan for a 1.5-fold power reserve for the inverter part. After all, waiting a month or two for parts delivery in wartime conditions means stopping the operation of a business or a critical facility.