Ukraine’s largest energy company DTEK wants to invest in renewable energy outside Ukraine and produce oil within the next several years.
The energy giant, which belongs to Ukraine’s richest person, oligarch Rinat Akhmetov, also plans on producing a third of its energy from renewable sources by 2030 and becoming carbon-neutral by 2040.
DTEK CEO Maksym Timchenko outlined these and other goals in a Dec. 22 online news conference discussing DTEK’s strategy through 2030.
Today, DTEK Renewables is the biggest renewable player in Ukraine with close to 15% of the total market. Timchenko said that the company wants to maintain its lead but also expand its renewable assets into Europe.
“Today our investments in European countries are in a very active development phase, and I am convinced that, in 2021, we will have the first pilot projects for the construction of wind and solar power generation in the European Union,” said Timchenko.
On the hydrocarbon side, the company is participating in auctions and expanding its oil and gas production portfolio through acquisitions, with oil production expected in two years.
Timchenko also mentioned plans to expand its transmission assets, invest in better technology and launch a pilot energy storage project in the coming year.
Furthermore, D. Trading, an energy distributor belonging to DTEK, will expand its trading activity with EU markets, he added.
Becoming carbon-neutral would require a major transformation for DTEK, which controls the majority of coal fired electricity production in Ukraine and employs tens of thousands of coal miners.
In 2020, coal and combined cycle plants generated about a third of Ukraine’s total energy. Timchenko predicted that coal power will be just 12% of the total energy mix in Ukraine by 2030, while nuclear energy will go from 53% to 57%.
The company has been dogged by several problems in 2020, one of which is its attempt to restructure its debts after missing payments earlier in the year, following the economic crisis. DTEK recently prepared a proposal to its creditors but did not publicly disclose how much debt it wants to restructure.
It’s also been hit by the financial crisis in the energy sector earlier in the year. State company Guaranteed Buyer has been unable to cover all payments to renewable energy producers. Despite numerous attempts at compromise, Guaranteed Buyer’s debt to wind, solar and biomass plants is growing, accounting now for $1 billion.
And DTEK has also fallen afoul of the authorities. The Anti-Monopoly Committee last week fined DTEK Zakhidenergo and D. Trading Hr 275.2 million for abusing its monopoly position in the Burshtyn Energy Island zone, where Zakhidenergo produces about 90% of total energy.
DTEK has previously denied having a monopoly anywhere in Ukraine, a position that Timchenko echoed during his presentation.
A court case against DTEK concerning its alleged participation in the so-called Rotterdam+ scheme is still pending in the High Anti-Corruption Court, but special prosecutor Vitaliy Ponomarenko has refused to bring the case to the courtroom.
