Ukraine must rebuild its energy grid during the war, GE Vernova says
Ukraine’s energy recovery can no longer be divided into emergency repairs, postwar reconstruction and later industrial development, said Roger Martella, GE Vernova’s chief corporate officer and chief sustainability officer. With Russia’s attacks continuing, he said, the country and its partners must pursue those efforts at the same time.
The change in approach comes as Ukraine faces another difficult winter. On Nov. 9, Brussels agreed to activate a special emergency mechanism to provide urgent support, President Volodymyr Zelensky said. The decision followed Russia’s Nov. 3 strike on the energy grid, described as the most brutal of the year, which affected hospitals, households, rail infrastructure and businesses.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has lost roughly half its power-generation capacity, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), with the losses occurring during 2022 and 2023. The occupation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant cut generation capacity by 6 gigawatts, the IEA report found. The agency said Ukraine is now better prepared for attacks, citing more decentralized generation, storage and strategic reserves.
Martella said GE Vernova initially expected to help Ukraine through emergency winters before moving to planned reconstruction and, eventually, support for factories producing energy technology. Nearly five years of war have overturned that sequence. “We can't wait for the conflict to end,” he said.
The shift is reflected in longer-term investment, as well as closer ties between GE Vernova and DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy firm. Direct damage to the country’s energy infrastructure exceeded $16 billion as of May 2024, according to the Kyiv School of Economics. Earlier this year, GE Vernova announced a €900 million investment in a new gas-fired power project with DTEK.
GE Vernova has also supplied mobile aeroderivative gas turbines, initially intended for emergency use. They now provide baseload power, Martella said, running almost 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Each turbine powers about 100,000 homes, he said.
Martella said he hopes Ukraine can become a hub for electrification equipment for domestic use and export. He pointed to record drone manufacturing and the country’s historically strong industrial workforce as reasons for optimism, despite the ongoing war.
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first!