14.10.2025
During the second panel discussion of the Energy Club forum “Resilience and Transformation: Balancing Ukraine’s Energy System in a New Reality,” held on September 25 in Kyiv, Mykhailo Bubnov, CEO of Schneider Electric Ukraine LLC, delivered a frank and profound assessment of the current state of the country’s energy sector. He outlined the realities in which Ukraine’s energy industry operates, while also presenting a vision for its transformation: from survival mode to a digital, smart, decentralized system capable of supporting the development of industry, IT, and the investment climate after victory.
Schneider Electric is actively investing in Ukraine and helping to restore its energy infrastructure after shelling by providing equipment, often free of charge. In fact, the company has created a reserve of necessary equipment to respond promptly to the consequences of attacks.
“We live in this business environment every day, communicating with clients. Yesterday, I was told: ‘We had 300 MW of capacity, and this morning it was 125. Only one of three chimneys is smoking.’ We are working under constant challenges. Every day brings new circumstances. We get calls: ‘Shaheds have hit, we need to send equipment urgently—no contracts, just so people have electricity.’ We are currently in survival mode,” Bubnov emphasized.
According to him, Schneider Electric knows which substations may be attacked and brings in equipment in advance to be able to react quickly. “Winter is coming, and we need to help the country survive,” he noted.
Investment Pause and Industrial Decline
A separate part of his speech was dedicated to issues of investment and electricity consumption. Mykhailo Bubnov pointed out that the war has practically halted most projects in IT, industry, and construction.
“Before the war, the IT sector was among the leaders of the economy. Data centers were being built, each consuming megawatts of electricity. Now, all of them are outside of Ukraine. Only about 5% of the pre-war level of new ones are being built. Investment in IT and electricity consumption by this sector has fallen by 90%,” he stated.
At the same time, Bubnov stressed that IT will remain a strategically important sector after the war—”it will become the number one in the Ukrainian economy in the future”.
Among the few international investments currently being implemented in Ukraine, the head of Schneider Electric named three:
“And that, essentially, is all the international investors in the real sector. If there are no investments, there is no planning for electricity consumption or the introduction of new generating capacities. This is not pessimism, it is realism,” Bubnov stressed.
Electricity—The Main Resource of the Modern World
Mykhailo Bubnov emphasized that electricity is becoming the main strategic resource of the planet, and Ukraine must integrate the latest technologies to ensure the rapid connection of any investment.
“The world is changing. And we must transform our power grids so that any investor can realize their idea as quickly as possible. This is our bright future: wind generation, modern IT infrastructure, and new life infrastructure,” he said, while also acknowledging that 70–90% of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure is outdated, and its modernization must become a national priority.
Decentralized Generation—The Key to Energy Resilience
According to the head of Schneider Electric, a process of six-fold growth in decentralized generation has already been launched in Ukraine. This is critically important, as 70% of thermal and hydroelectric power plants have been destroyed. “To make electricity sustainable, distributed generation is needed. There aren’t enough power plants for all the ‘Shaheds.’ Therefore, the future lies in microgrids, micro-storage, and local solar and wind capacities,” Bubnov noted.
He separately highlighted the growing role of prosumers—consumers who produce their own electricity and sell the surplus to the grid. Their activity requires new balancing systems and digital management.
Digital Substations, ADMS Systems, and the Future of Power Grids
Schneider Electric is already implementing pilot projects for digital substations in Ukraine, which are the basis for building flexible, manageable power grids. The company has its own software for managing services and systems—from substations to regional energy companies (oblenergos).
“We can predict and simulate the network’s operation in advance—how it will behave if we add 60–100 MW of new generation. This creates a system that allows for the rapid implementation of investments,” explained Mykhailo Bubnov.
The basis for such digital solutions includes:
“This is the direction in which Ukraine can already invest today. We are investing in training specialists in universities and trying to attract international project financing. We are talking about hundreds of millions of euros for the modernization of transformer and distribution substations,” said the CEO of Schneider Electric Ukraine LLC.
Investing in Knowledge—Investing in the Future
Schneider Electric also actively supports Ukrainian universities and institutes to train specialists capable of implementing modern energy projects.
“We invest in education because we have colossal human potential. There is enough money in the world. Our task is to show that it is possible to invest in Ukraine. As long as Schneider Electric and other international companies are working here, we demonstrate that it is possible,” noted Mykhailo Bubnov.
