31.10.2025
In the face of constant challenges to the Ukrainian energy system, energy storage technologies are becoming the key to security, stability, and the creation of a modern decentralized grid. On November 20, the Energy Club forum “Energy of Freedom: resilience and new opportunities for the energy storage systems market in Ukraine” will take place in Kyiv.
Among the forum’s speakers is Roman Dremlyukh, head of PowerU LLC.
PowerU is a Ukrainian developer and manufacturer of complex solutions for energy independence, creating energy storage systems (ESS), intelligent management software (EMS, BMS), and microgrids, helping Ukrainian businesses ensure stable, efficient, and autonomous energy supply.
In less than a year, PowerU has evolved from an idea into one of the manufacturers of energy storage systems in Ukraine. Its story is an example of how deep engineering expertise and a focus on quality allow for the creation of in-demand market products and quickly win the trust of clients and partners.
Thus, BESS made in Ukraine: PowerU is shaping a new quality of energy solutions.
In an interview with the Energy Club media department, Roman Dremlyukh spoke about how a Ukrainian manufacturer of energy storage systems went from an idea to a recognized market player in one year. He shared details of cooperation with leading European partners, explained why lithium-ion technologies are currently the only alternative for Ukraine, how real business models for BESS projects are formed, and outlined the development prospects for the energy storage market, which is already becoming an integral part of the Ukrainian energy system.
— Mr. Dremlyukh, your company PowerU is directly involved in the production and/or integration of batteries. Our forum is dedicated to new market opportunities. What opportunities do you see today from a manufacturer’s perspective?
— PowerU is a Ukrainian BESS manufacturer that develops, produces, and implements customized energy conversion and storage installations. All production is located in Ukraine. First of all, I want to briefly describe who helps us and who our project partners are. We spent over a year developing documentation, finding partners, and convincing them to join this project with us. Imagine: we, a newly created company from a country at war, are convincing the German VOSS Automotive—which develops liquid pipeline systems for Daimler AG, VAG, BMW, and other automotive giants, and has factories in several countries in Europe, North America, and China—to develop a liquid cooling pipe system for us according to the highest global standards. And we achieved this!
Rembe – one of the world leaders in the development and manufacture of explosion protection systems, helped us develop anti-explosion hatches, which helped us obtain an explosion safety rating.
Danfoss – a Danish company that created the first high-speed, seamless transition silicon carbide technology converter, at least in Europe, on the basis of which we manufacture our PCS. After Germany’s Mercedes, we are the second in the world to receive a prototype of this converter for testing! This converter is, if not the fastest, then one of the fastest and best in the world in its branch, and it can work with the fastest communication protocols, ensuring seamlessness during blackouts without a bypass. Our PCS, based on this converter, has certified grid codes for the entire ENTSO-E community, meaning almost the entire European continent.
Amphenol – a world leader in connector joints, the best MSD (manual service disconnect) systems, and pressure equalization valves for battery packs.
Phoenix Contact – one of the world leaders in electrical connection technology, ensuring reliable connection of battery modules and supplementing control systems. We have two suppliers of LFP cells – China’s EVE Energy and Norway’s Morrow – the first European manufacturer of LFP cells, with whom we have very good relations, even at the R&D department level.
The 1500V BMS systems are our joint development with a European company that works with auto giants in building electric vehicles and other mobile electric transport.
The entire distribution and protection system, both for 1500V DC and 690V AC and medium voltage, is produced in partnership with Schneider Electric, which, before cooperating with us, did not sell 1500V DC protective equipment for the European continent at all. We are the first in Europe for whom SE commercialized these products, which were previously only sold in North America and China. We also involved Ukrainian companies in the project – the “DMZ Karpaty” wagon-building plant, which helps us with the production of metal structures, particularly container shells, and “Aerostar” – a manufacturer of liquid chillers.
We carry out all development, software, and assembly of the installations using our own efforts and capabilities. This is a brief description of our project’s participant pool. As you can see, the product is designed and manufactured almost exclusively from European and (a few) American components. Also, an important point of pride for us is the high level of cybersecurity and the absence of monitoring and management servers in Asia. I hope it is now clearer to you and the readers that we have delved quite deeply into this matter, so we can seriously discuss, at least, the topic of “What is a BESS.”
And now to the heart of the question. From a manufacturer’s perspective, I see an endless amount of work both in the construction of ESS units and in the gradual transition to producing batteries for electric transport, especially for urban passenger transport and retrofitting diesel shunting locomotives to electric.
— Is there solvent demand for industrial ESS in Ukraine, or is the market still cautious?
— A great deal. Moreover, medium and large enterprises are objectively beginning to understand that in a short time, and perhaps even now, it will be impossible for them to exist without a BESS. This market is currently emerging, and we already have our facility fully booked for six months ahead.
Here’s an example. In Germany, where I lived for many years, there are plans to implement up to 60 GWh of storage capacity by 2030, and this is despite their energy component already being relatively efficient compared to Ukraine’s. Now compare the economies of the two countries and apply the GDP coefficient. It will be about 10 to 1 per capita. Divide 60 by 10 – and you will see what awaits us in this market, meaning about 6 GWh may be the need for Ukraine in the next 5-6 years.
Or put it another way, according to my data, Ukraine currently has approximately 7 GW of solar, over 1.5 GW of wind generation, not counting gas piston units and small hydro, which will not be able to generate into the market after the “green tariff” ends due to potential unprofitability and will be forced to switch to storage systems. Likewise, in my opinion, the future of shunting TPPs (Thermal Power Plants) in Ukraine is doomed. Therefore, this market is emerging quite well.
So, the solvent demand for industrial BESS is relatively limited for now, but not for long, because many clients either do not understand at all, or do not fully understand, what a BESS is and what can be done with it.
— Who is your key client? Is it large industry protecting itself from outages, or developers of “green” generation who need maneuverability?
— We are currently working on the most difficult tasks involving BESS applications for medium and large enterprises in Ukraine. For example, at a large enterprise in Cherkasy, we are implementing a microgrid where the task is to support two independently operating multi-megawatt gas piston units (GPUs), ensuring a seamless transition between on-grid and off-grid, and handling peak shaving with millisecond monitoring.
In the Vinnytsia region, at a food industry enterprise, the task is even more complex. Two independent solar power plants and a one-and-a-half-megawatt GPU are already installed, and it is also necessary to create a seamless mini-grid for the stable, uninterrupted operation of this enterprise with full energy consumption monitoring.
Are these solvent clients? They really need this, and they understand what they are investing in and why. We also have a client who won a tender to provide ancillary services (aFRR – Automatic Frequency Restoration Reserve), but this is a much simpler task than those described above.
— One of the forum’s themes is “Technologies and Experience.” Everyone talks about lithium-ion batteries. In your opinion, which storage technologies are optimal for Ukrainian realities? Is there room for other solutions (e.g., flow batteries, hydrogen), or is lithium currently the only alternative?
— Lithium-ion batteries are probably the only alternative in Ukraine today because we do not have systemic state reimbursements for storage technologies, and Ukrainian businesses will not invest in risky projects without seeing at least a minimal payback in them.
— There are many foreign solutions on the Ukrainian market now (Tesla, Chinese manufacturers). How can a Ukrainian manufacturer or integrator compete with them? Is it price, service, or the flexibility of “turnkey” solutions?
— Of those you listed, in my opinion, if we disregard the first one (I’m not sure it’s even here), they are not market players, they are market fillers, and they offer us absolutely no competition. I won’t discuss those manufacturers at length, but I have excellent experience testing the largest Asian manufacturers, and I know much more about their operation and capabilities.
A simple example. They are all scenario-based, meaning a certain number of operating scenarios are pre-programmed, and everything else “off-scenario”! To be precise, it doesn’t work, unlike the freely programmable ESS units that we offer. Some of them are under American sanctions and do not even have access to proper high-tech components.
How can an ESS unit be useful for a large production facility when it goes off-grid in more than 20ms during a blackout, and some even after 45 seconds? How can an installation perform peak shaving if its “logger” only reads the grid every 5 seconds? How can the Modbus protocol ensure the maximum speed for making a decision, sending a command to the EMS controller, and receiving feedback? There is no talk of protocols like Profinet, OPC UA, EtherCat, and without them, high-speed operation of the unit is impossible. What will the owner of such an installation do when, for example, a cooling chiller pump fails or a pipe bursts? How long will they wait for such a spare part?
And as for proper certified explosion protection and certified fire protection systems, this is only possible in exclusive cases, when an integrator (perhaps) does it, if they understand what they are doing. But even that is not the main thing.
We all understand the world we live in and how the world is divided now. With this understanding, imagine that your installation is connected to a server in Asia, it is fully monitored there, and someone has full physical influence over it. I hope there is no need to develop this topic further, as it could affect the psychological state of some owners of such installations, as well as lending institutions.
But you did not name reputable manufacturers among the players, such as the American giant Fluence, which works with DTEK. Yes, that is a worthy manufacturer to look up to, compete with, and try to take pieces of the market from, not only in Ukraine but also beyond its borders.
Our biggest advantage is the localization not only of production but also of the warehouse with components that we constantly use. We also support our software and provide maintenance services. The reaction to a malfunction is instantaneous because we monitor the installations we have installed, if the client allows it. And of course – we do not offer or sell an installation without commissioning and full operational launch.
— Can you, without revealing commercial secrets, give an example of a business model you calculated for a client? What is a realistic payback period for an ESS project in Ukraine today?
— We fundamentally do not engage in calculating any business models for the operation of our installations—that’s what economists, financiers, and other specialists are for. We are an engineering and manufacturing company that develops, manufactures, and commissions energy storage installations. We do not impose anything on anyone; we implement projects for ADULT, MATURE clients who come to us with their own business model already developed, and they clearly understand what they need. We can only advise and coordinate the wishes of the future installation owner.
We can, based on technical calculations and figures, show the client the actual result, which they must then compile and recalculate into a business model. However, there were those who came with a “payback business model” of three years based on arbitrage, after which I personally refused to sign the contract, as I consider it unfeasible and it could harm our reputation.
We fundamentally do not enter into so-called “projects” where the client does not fully understand what they expect from the installation’s operation. We fundamentally do not send out offers until we are convinced that this is our potential client, although we always sign a non-disclosure agreement with everyone beforehand. It may seem strange, but there has been more than one case where we refused a guaranteed contract due to the counterparty’s lack of understanding of their situation and capabilities.
For example, a client had bank approval for a loan for a solar station with an ESS, i.e., generation/arbitrage with a “business model” payback of four years. In our opinion, this is an unattainable dream, so we refused to participate in the supply. I generally do not see a payback for an ESS on arbitrage in Ukraine faster than 6 years. It’s a different matter when there is a complex system – microgrids with additional generation units, serious peak shaving, seamless transition, control over imbalances, reactive energy, etc. Then – yes, that has a real payback in a shorter period – even 2-3 years, strange as it may seem. Imagine a rolling mill shutdown at a metallurgical plant, or a production cycle stoppage at a GZK (mining and processing plant)! One stoppage there can cost half the price of a 5 MWh container.
—What, in your opinion, is the main barrier today for a client considering your products? Is it purely price and payback period, or regulatory difficulties with connection and market participation?
— We are fully occupied for the next six months, according to our capabilities—that is the answer about barriers. There is one small problem: when importing some components and cable products for production, there is an import duty, even though Ukrainian industry has historically never produced, does not produce, and will not produce either 1500V cables or other specific components for ESS production. Time will tell what happens next. PowerU has clients not only in Ukraine, and our goal is by no means to limit ourselves to home. Having such a list of partners, we know where else we are awaited, but that takes a little time.
— At the forum on November 20, you will be presenting a view from “inside” the technology. What is the main message you want to convey to consumers, investors, and regulators? What needs to be done for Ukrainian BESS projects to become a mass phenomenon?
— First and foremost, I expect a discussion – a truthful, open conversation. And also mutual understanding with potential clients. When there is understanding, it turns into rapport, and rapport unites parties for joint projects.
