17.06.2026
At the Energy Club forum “Energy Decentralization 2026: Generation, Storage and Financing”, held on May 26 in Kyiv as part of the International Specialized Exhibition Green EnerTech – 2026, Yuriy Podolyak, General Director of IKNET, presented a strategic vision for the development of decentralized energy in Ukraine. The expert analyzed the key barriers to real energy autonomy of communities and enterprises, outlined the necessary technical and regulatory changes, and also shared forecasts for the development of the microgrid and Smart Grid market.
According to Yuriy Podoliak, today there is actually no full-fledged decentralization of the energy sector in Ukraine. Despite the active construction of new generating facilities and energy storage facilities, most of them remain critically dependent on external network infrastructure.
“We have a set of generating facilities that are directly connected to the electricity grid. And in its absence, about 90% of such facilities do not work,” noted the CEO of IKNET.
The expert explained that even if a power plant or energy storage system operates next to an enterprise, their operation may be stopped due to the shutdown of a 35 or 110 kV substation through which they are interconnected. A similar problem arises for active consumers who invest in their own generation without proper synchronization with the enterprise’s internal infrastructure.
Yuriy Podolyak named the lack of a comprehensive approach to planning among the main reasons for this situation. Territorial communities often install generating capacities without a detailed analysis of their own needs, industrial enterprises purchase equipment without assessing consumption profiles and operating modes, and electricity producers connect to networks without implementing the energy island mode.
A separate problem remains the insufficient development of Smart Grid. According to the speaker, many distribution system operators have not yet carried out the necessary modernization of substations and control systems.
To create truly autonomous energy systems, it is necessary to implement microgrids that provide automatic management of various sources of generation and energy storage.
“Buying generation for millions of euros and not creating a microgrid management system is one of the main reasons why such solutions do not work effectively,” emphasized Yuriy Podolyak.
He gave examples of companies spending up to 50 minutes manually switching between the external network and backup generation, which indicates a low level of process automation.
At the same time, the expert also noted the positive changes that are already taking place in the market. In particular, the state is gradually creating conditions for the development of decentralized generation through the introduction of mechanisms for direct connection of producers to consumers, the development of an active consumer, aggregation of small producers, and simplification of connection procedures.
Among the important innovations, he noted the flexible connection mechanism, for which a legislative framework has already been formed, as well as the simplification of licensing requirements – for facilities with a capacity of up to 5 MW, a license for electricity production or operation of energy storage facilities is no longer required.
At the same time, one of the biggest challenges remains financing the modernization of the network infrastructure. According to the estimates of the CEO of IKNET, the reconstruction of one substation to ensure autonomous operation can cost from 3 million euros.
“The question arises: who should finance such projects? An investor, a community, the state or a distribution system operator? Today there is no clear answer yet,” noted Yuriy Podolyak.
That is why, according to the expert, Ukraine needs to form separate mechanisms for financing the development of smart grids, without which true decentralization will remain unattainable.
Speaking about the practical implementation of projects, the CEO of IKNET emphasized that any implementation should not begin with the purchase of equipment, but with the analysis of electrical circuits, hourly consumption and modeling of the operating modes of the future power system.
“Many people think that it is enough to install automation. But the first question of automation engineers is: what exactly needs to be controlled? Without modeling and development of operating modes, it is impossible to build an effective microgrid,” he explained.
During the discussion, Yuriy Podolyak also spoke about typical problems that enterprises face after installing various sources of generation. Often, solar power plants, battery systems, diesel and gas-piston installations operate separately, but cannot effectively interact with each other in a single complex.
In his opinion, it is the integration of different types of generation and the creation of effective control algorithms that will become the main ndom in the coming years.
“Companies have already understood that simply purchasing a gas-piston installation or a solar station does not solve the problem. The future lies in an effective combination of different types of generation and automation of management processes,” the speaker noted.
Summing up his speech, Yuriy Podoliak emphasized that the next stage in the development of the Ukrainian energy sector should be the transition from the accumulation of individual generating assets to the creation of full-fledged energy ecosystems. It is the development of Smart Grid, microgrids, modern management systems and financing mechanisms that will allow decentralization to be transformed from a declaration into a real tool for the energy sustainability of communities, enterprises and the entire country.
