The top 10 investors in renewable energy in Ukraine earned more than Hr 14 billion ($525.9 million) due to the rapid growth of wind and solar power last year.
Renewables jumped from 2% of Ukraine’s energy balance at the start of 2019 to more than 8% today. Thanks to Ukraine’s high euro-denominated feed-in tariff, this energy accounts for about a quarter of total Ukrainian energy costs.
At the top of the list of investors is DTEK, the power company owned by Ukraine’s richest man, oligarch Rinat Akhmetov, according to the Liga.net news site. It used open data from state bodies Guaranteed Buyer and the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission to calculate the 10 biggest winners of 2019 in green energy.
But that energy comes at a price. Thanks to the high costs of green energy and a flawed, incomplete energy market, Guaranteed Buyer is drowning in debt to producers, owing more than Hr 7 billion ($263 million) as of May. The debt is projected to grow to over Hr 19 billion ($713.7 million) in 2020, according to a conservative estimate.
Energy officials have unilaterally said the feed in tariff is unsustainable, but haven’t been able to reach an agreement with green investors on how to lower it. A decision is expected soon.
According to the State Tax Service of Ukraine, renewable energy producers paid Hr 93.6 billion to the budget for the past 10 years, including Hr 19 billion in 2019.
Top Greens
Predictably, Akhmetov’s DTEK Renewables, part of the giant DTEK energy holding, took first place, with about Hr 4.8 billion ($176.5 million). Akhmetov’s combined green assets total over 1 gigawatt in capacity. The company reported that its renewable revenue for 2018 was Hr 2.5 billion, which would mean that its renewable revenue increased by 92% in 2019.
Speaking to Kyiv Post last week, DTEK CEO Maksym Timchenko said that he envisions renewable power gradually replacing coal’s share in the total energy mix. While the company had plans to increase capacity to 2 gigawatts of renewables, it has put further construction under the feed-in tariff on hold for now.
Second place, with Hr 2.92 billion ($110 million), went to China National Building Materials Group, which acquired its solar assets in Ukraine in 2015. Those plants had been developed by brothers Serhiy and Andriy Klyuyev, who have since fled Ukraine. The Kluyevs’ Active Solar was, for a long time, the largest renewable player in the country.
Swedish businessmen Carl Sturen and Johan Boden took third place. They are known for sauce producer Chumak and have also partnered up to develop renewable projects with Windcraft Ukraine, Windcraft Tavria and Windcraft Kalanchak. They produce 335 megawatt and have earned 1.67 billion last year.
Other members of the top 10 include Andrii Gordienko, with Hr 1.1 billion for his 289 megawatts, and his former business partner Serhiy Khripkov with Hr 904 million for his 175 megawatts.
American businessman Richard Dates earned Hr 864 million with 535 megawatts. Dates used to be the business partner of Makar Paseniuk, the co-owner of investment firm ICU.
Zinoviy Kozitsky, a hydrocarbon businessman, owns 171 megawatts of renewable energy in western Ukraine and has made Hr 655.4 million last year.
Well-known real estate, tech and infrastructure tycoon Vasyl Khmelnytsky has 148 megawatt worth of solar power, which earned him Hr 453 million last year.
Eduard Mkrtchian is the son of Oleg Mkrtchian, the founder of the Industrial Union of Donbas, who was sentenced to nine years in prison in Russia last year. The younger Mkrtchian owns 197 megawatts worth of renewables in Ukraine, which made Hr 437 million.
Ihor Tynnyi, the founder of the Ukrainian Association of Renewable Energy, together with Yulia Lovochkina, the sister of lawmaker Serhiy Lovochkin, jointly own a series of small hydroelectric plants and shares in several solar plants. Together, these account for 81 megawatts, earning to Hr 434 million.
