22.09.2026
Ukrainian industrial companies are gradually moving away from the emergency purchase of backup equipment towards comprehensive planning of their own energy independence. Olha Romaniuk, Chief Commercial Officer, CPG Energy, discussed the transformation in the manufacturing sector’s approach to energy storage systems, the importance of energy audits and the impossibility of applying universal payback models during the Energy Club forum “Energy Freedom: Resilience and New Opportunities in Ukraine’s Energy Storage Market,” held in Kyiv on 17 September.
At the beginning of her presentation, Olha Romaniuk said that she shared the concerns expressed by other participants regarding regulatory issues, connection difficulties and the needs of the municipal sector. At the same time, she proposed focusing particular attention on Ukrainian manufacturing companies, which have been forced to fundamentally change their approach to energy supply in recent years. “Over the past two years, Ukrainian manufacturers have undergone an extraordinary transformation that no other country has experienced. Businesses have faced numerous challenges, and Ukraine’s manufacturing sector, particularly companies operating in international markets, now has many important questions to address,” Olha Romaniuk said.
According to her, only two years ago many companies regarded backup power equipment primarily as an emergency response to outages. Their main objective was to prevent production stoppages, equipment damage or the loss of goods. “Previously, it was seen simply as a fire extinguisher: something needed to keep production running and prevent goods from being spoiled. Today, Ukrainian manufacturers approach energy supply systems and energy independence in an entirely different way,” she emphasised.
This change means that solutions should no longer be designed solely as an immediate response to an emergency. Companies need to analyse their consumption profiles, production processes, available connection capacity, opportunities for local generation and the operating modes of energy storage systems.
For this reason, CPG Energy begins work on every new project with a detailed assessment of the facility’s actual energy consumption. “Before building any system, we conduct a comprehensive energy consumption audit of the commercial consumer,” Olha Romaniuk explained.
According to her, an in-depth analysis makes it possible not only to determine the required power and capacity of the storage system correctly, but also to reduce the need for additional permitted connection capacity and costly grid reinforcement. This is particularly important for more complex projects involving the creation of local energy islands. “This does not resolve every problem, but it allows us to address issues related to grid connection and permitted capacity. In certain cases, the need for additional capacity can be reduced by creating energy islands,” she said.
Olha Romaniuk expects the Ukrainian energy storage market to continue developing over the next several years. She sees particularly significant potential in the manufacturing sector, where the cost of interrupting production processes may be considerably higher than the cost of creating a company’s own backup and energy management system.
At the same time, war-risk insurance remains one of the main factors limiting the implementation of new projects. “Investing in BESS projects in Ukraine without insurance is extremely risky today. This is one of the most important issues that needs to be addressed,” the Chief Commercial Officer, CPG Energy said.
She also identified challenges in working with NPC Ukrenergo and uncertainties surrounding electricity market regulation. Changes in market rules or technical requirements may significantly affect a project’s financial performance and therefore need to be considered alongside the technical characteristics of the equipment.
During the subsequent discussion, Olha Romaniuk examined the payback of energy storage systems and the possibility of applying identical financial models to different companies. According to her, experience gained from calculating, presenting and implementing a large number of projects demonstrates that every facility has unique conditions. “I have participated in the calculations for a very large number of projects, in presenting them for approval and in their implementation. I can say one thing: I have never seen a model that could be fully replicated. Every one of them is unique,” she stressed.
For this reason, it is impossible to specify a universal payback period for a BESS project or predict battery degradation without first analysing the particular facility.
The project’s financial performance depends on the company’s consumption profile, charging and discharging modes, the number of cycles, available connection capacity, the battery’s technical characteristics and the possibility of combining several different applications. “We are very often asked whether a project will pay back in three, five or ten years, and how the battery will degrade. However, the payback period for your particular project can only be determined after a very detailed analysis and examination of the specific facility,” Olha Romaniuk explained.
An energy storage system may be used for self-consumption, backup power, cost optimisation or operation in different electricity market segments. A model that combines several of these applications may prove more resilient, but its specific configuration must be determined individually. “It is necessary to understand how many different applications will be involved, which markets the system will operate in, how it will be used for self-consumption and to meet the company’s own needs, and how all these models can be combined,” she said.
Olha Romaniuk has also worked with models in which one company reached an agreement with a neighbouring business and, with the involvement of an electricity trader, provided it with certain energy services. This again demonstrates that a project’s configuration depends not only on the technical characteristics of the equipment, but also on the facility’s location, its consumption structure and the availability of potential partners.
At the same time, market participants cannot accurately predict future decisions by the regulator or the scenario according to which the electricity market will develop. Any model must therefore account for possible changes in the rules and should not rely on a single source of revenue. “None of us can see the future or say with certainty which scenario will be implemented even one year from now,” Olha Romaniuk noted.
Despite the regulatory and wartime risks, she is convinced that energy storage systems will play an increasingly important role in Ukraine’s energy sector. The damage to and loss of a significant share of centralised generating capacity mean that businesses need local and controllable sources of energy supply. “Given that Ukraine is losing major centralised generation capacities on which we have traditionally relied, energy storage systems are the future. We need to study them and should not be afraid to implement such projects, but this market must become more attractive to investors,” she stressed.
Accessible war-risk insurance should become one of the key instruments for improving the market’s investment attractiveness. At present, only a limited number of insurance companies are prepared to work with energy projects under Ukrainian conditions, while the cost of such coverage remains high. “Few insurance companies are prepared to operate under the current realities in Ukraine, but insurance is critically important. This issue needs to be developed, raised at the state level and discussed with the regulator,” Olha Romaniuk concluded.
