Ukrainian private utility DTEK has energised the largest battery storage project in the war-torn country and one of the biggest ones in Eastern Europe.
The 200 MW/400 MWh installation spans six sites ranging from 20 MW to 50 MW and connected to the power grid in the Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions. DTEK invested €125 million ($146 million) into the project.
The project uses Fluence’s Gridstack solution and is designed to provide enough dispatchable energy to power 600,000 homes for two hours.
Construction of the project was completed in just six months – significantly faster than the industry average for projects of similar scale and complexity. The accelerated timeline was driven by the urgent need to bring the system online ahead of the winter season.
Due to the ongoing war and limited access to Ukraine, this marks the first project that Fluence has commissioned entirely remotely. To make this possible, 20 Ukrainian power engineers underwent advanced training at Fluence project sites in Germany and Finland. The training was specifically designed to equip them with the skills needed to install and commission the system independently, without Fluence staff on site.
The new battery storage systems are expected to enhance the security of electricity supply and reduce the risk of outages and grid disruptions – particularly in cases where dispatchable generation, such as gas turbines, fails.
The systems will also enable Ukraine to store electricity generated from a diverse mix of energy sources, helping to smooth supply fluctuations and integrate more renewable energy into the national grid.
“In the context of large-scale attacks on Ukraine’s energy system, the role of energy storage systems has become just as fundamental as energy generation itself,” said Energy Minister Svitlana Grinchuk.
“The National Renewable Energy Action Plan adopted by the government for 2030 clearly outlines the need for such installations, and today we are witnessing strategic goals being brought to life. I am grateful to DTEK Group for their proactive approach on this matter, and to our American partners at Fluence for their cutting-edge technologies, thanks to which every new megawatt of storage acts as a shield for the entire energy system. This means greater security for Ukrainians and fewer risks of emergency power outages.”
