What Makes a Project "Bankable": A Banking Perspective on Energy Storage in Ukraine

05.12.2025

At the Energy Club forum “Energy of Freedom: Resilience and New Opportunities for the Energy Storage Systems Market in Ukraine,” held in Kyiv on November 20, Roman Lukianchuk, Head of the Industry and Energy Department at JSC Ukreximbank, spoke at the panel “‘Bankable’ Project: How to Finance, Legalize, and Technologically Implement BESS”.

His report focused on available financial instruments for Energy Storage, risk assessment, and the requirements that make a project viable for banks.

BESS Today: From Commerce to Critical Need

Roman Lukianchuk emphasized that energy storage systems have ceased to be just a commercial tool — they are becoming a matter of energy resilience and flexibility of the country’s energy system.

The war has radically changed the market landscape and the logic of the energy business: enterprises are massively switching to their own generation — Solar Power Plants (SPP), gas piston stations, combined solutions, and BESS. About 60% of businesses already have their own generating units and cover peak consumption independently. Today, Energy Storage is not a trend, but part of a major market transformation.

What Makes a Project “Bankable”?

1. Understandable Business Model The bank must see clear answers to the following questions:

• What is the project’s business model: as part of business continuity for the main business (ensuring continuous operation), as an additional business, or as the main energy business;
• What role does BESS play in the overall architecture;
• In combination with what does BESS operate (SPP, generation, participation in aggregated or balancing groups in the market, etc.);
• Which market segments does it target if it is a separate business.

2. Professional Team “Ukreximbank” is quite cautious about statements from Clients who have had no experience in the energy market: “We’ll buy storage — we’ll arbitrage”. Energy is a very complex and multifaceted industry; the Bank analyzes the full spectrum of factors during project implementation, such as the background of contractors, EPC contractors, service companies, off-take, as well as the professionalism of the Client’s team itself.

3. Risk Distribution When financing BESS projects, the Bank expects balanced participation from all parties and risk distribution among all stakeholders through the prism of:

• The company’s own contribution;
• Existing collateral;
• Insurance guarantees;
• Suretyship;
• Risk-sharing mechanisms of IFIs (International Financial Institutions);
• Other hedging instruments.

4. Transparency Openness of the operational and financial business model is one of the key factors of cooperation. The Bank must clearly understand who it is working with and how the Project will generate predicted income and cash flow.

Flexibility of Banking Solutions

Roman Lukianchuk emphasized that the bank’s indicative offers are not static: the market is changing rapidly — and banking approaches also transform during the process of analysis or project support.

Expertise as Part of the Bank’s Value

Banks do not just lend, but also help clients avoid strategic mistakes when investing in energy projects. There are situations where the bank can openly point out to the Client:

• That the viability of the project is questionable;
• That the business model does not assess all risks and has significant flaws;
• That technical and financial risks are underestimated.

“Ukreximbank” also sees its role in cooperation with other banks, as the stability of the Ukrainian energy market requires partnership rather than competition.

Main Points for Investors Planning to Attract Financing

Roman Lukianchuk outlined four key requirements:

• Business transparency;
• A clear and realistic business model;
• A professional team capable of managing the project;
• Readiness for risk distribution.

“The success of great deeds depends on the cooperation of many parties,” he concluded, urging market participants to seek partnerships, use the expertise of banks, and build strong teams capable of implementing complex energy projects.