03.02.2026
Amidst constant enemy attacks on energy infrastructure and the risks of facing winter without heat, Ukraine is at a crossroads regarding its new heating strategy. During the Energy Club expert discussion, “The Future of Thermal Power: Between Decentralization and Reality,” leading industry experts, government officials, representatives from municipalities, and business leaders discussed ways to save cities from freezing.
The central theme was the situation in major cities, specifically Kyiv, where damage to large Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants creates critical risks for hundreds of thousands of residents.
Participants agreed that the “centralization vs. decentralization” debate is a false dichotomy. The future lies in a smart energy mix. On one hand, it is essential to maintain and modernize large CHPs capable of running on various fuels and incinerating waste. On the other, it is critically important to build “islands” of distributed generation and install gas-piston units to ensure the system remains in “anti-freeze” mode even during total blackouts.
Among the main challenges voiced by experts were a “crisis of intellect” in planning, a shortage of qualified service engineers, bureaucratic hurdles, and the lack of a clear strategy for securing resources (gas) for new installations.
