02.06.2026
Within the framework of the International Specialized Exhibition Green EnerTech – 2026, the Energy Club business community in partnership with Kyiv Global Expo held the Energy Forum “Energy Decentralization 2026: Generation, Storage and Financing” at the International Exhibition Center in Kyiv.
The main goal of the event was to analyze current industry issues and find effective technological and financial tools for building independent energy systems.
During the forum, CEO of Voltage Group Vitalii Nykolaienko spoke about the features of designing distributed generation facilities in modern conditions, challenges associated with grid connection, the shortage of qualified personnel, and the change in investors’ approaches to the implementation of energy projects.
According to the speaker, the Ukrainian power system is undergoing an unprecedented transformation today.
“We live in a difficult but very interesting time when the power system is changing and deeply transforming through our efforts,” he emphasized.
Vitalii Nykolaienko noted that currently, two powerful factors have coincided: the consequences of the war with damage to generating facilities and network infrastructure, and the rapid development of technologies, which have become much more affordable from an economic point of view.
“It so happened that the war coincided in time — these are missile attacks, damaged generation facilities, transmission and distribution networks — with the development of technologies and their reduction in cost to indicators that allow these facilities to pay off within reasonable terms. Banks have started financing such projects, and the construction of distributed generation is happening very quickly,” he noted.
At the same time, the architecture of the Ukrainian power system was historically not designed for such a number of new generation facilities.
“The architecture of the modern power system did not provide for such a huge number of connections of distributed generation facilities to either transmission or distribution networks,” emphasized the speaker.
Vitalii Nykolaienko paid special attention to the issue of connecting new facilities to the grid, calling it one of the most underestimated risks for investors.
According to him, most investors focus on the cost of equipment and station construction, paying insufficient attention to the network component.
“I would draw attention not even to the facilities themselves — wind, solar power plants, BESS — but precisely to the connection networks, because this is very often an underestimated story,” he noted.
The CEO of Voltage Group explained that investors usually consider connection a secondary issue due to its smaller share in capital expenditures. However, it is precisely here that the greatest delays and additional costs often arise.
“An investor thinks roughly like this: 80–90% of capex is the facility itself and the equipment, and 10–20% is the cost of connection. In fact, it is quite the opposite, because a lot of not fully controlled processes are associated with distribution system operators and the transmission system operator,” remarked Vitalii Nykolaienko.
In recent years, technical conditions for connection have significantly become more complicated due to the overloading of the power system with new generation facilities. This requires designers to perform a large number of network calculations.
The speaker cited examples from practice when investors bought ready-to-build projects with land and technical conditions, but subsequent analysis showed the need for large-scale network reconstruction, making implementation economically unfeasible.
“There have been cases when an investor had already bought a Ready-to-build development facility with technical conditions, land, and equipment, but the operating modes of the adjacent DSO and TSO networks were not calculated. After conducting the calculations, it turned out that the cost of reconstructing the operators’ networks was too high for the payback of such a project,” shared the CEO of Voltage Group.
Vitalii Nykolaienko named the lack of qualified specialists as another challenge for the industry.
“One of the biggest problems today is the lack of a sufficient number of qualified personnel and companies with expertise that can design and develop such energy infrastructure facilities,” he emphasized.
According to the head of Voltage Group, even before the start of the full-scale invasion, the company relied on training its own specialists, cooperating with students and graduates of the Faculty of Electric Power Engineering and Electromechanics of the Vinnytsia National Technical University. Today, despite a strong established design unit, even this resource is no longer enough.
“We are not keeping up either. I see that many companies have stopped taking orders for designing connection networks and the facilities themselves. And we are just as close to refusing new orders because the number of facilities is huge, and there is a shortage of companies and people to implement them,” told Vitalii Nykolaienko.
At the same time, the speaker noted positive changes in the market. In his opinion, investors are gradually moving away from searching for the cheapest equipment and are paying more and more attention to the comprehensive implementation of projects.
“The market has matured. Its participants are starting to ask deeper, fundamental questions — not where to buy cheaper, but how to implement the project as a whole,” emphasized Vitalii Nykolaienko.
According to him, today customers already understand that purchasing equipment is not enough. Designing, approvals, network calculations, and implementation support become significantly more important. That is why the role of engineering companies and designers is growing significantly.
“The work of an engineer is beginning to be valued, which, of course, is pleasing,” he noted.
Summarizing the discussion, the moderator of the forum — Vice President of Energy Club Ivan Grygoruk emphasized that the success of any distributed generation project largely depends on high-quality pre-project preparation. It is the detailed calculations of the electrical installation’s operation at a specific location and a clear understanding of its tasks that make it possible to ensure a reliable supply of electricity and heat to consumers and avoid risks already at the project implementation stage.
