Elementum Energy, a subsidiary of VR Capital Group, has chosen to integrate its energy storage system (ESS) with the Dnister Wind Farm, which has a total installed capacity of 100 MW, as part of its pilot ESS project in Ukraine to optimize power generation, as it considers this approach the most effective for renewable energy players, said the company’s commercial director, Roman Volosheniuk.
“We have adopted a scenario that is rarely considered in Ukraine—ES as a tool for optimizing our existing assets. Our pilot ES project, with a capacity of 10 MW and a storage capacity of 20 MWh, is designed to interact with our 100 MW wind farm. We view energy storage not as a separate, independent business, but as a tool for our own generation,” Volosheniuk said during Energy Storage Day-2026, organized by the Ukrainian Wind Energy Association.
He explained that the company decided not to pursue the first two scenarios—operating the ESS with state support based on the results of Ukrenergo’s auctions for ancillary services and price arbitrage—for a number of reasons.
“We have had negative experiences with state support—debts under the ‘green’ tariff, unilateral cuts to its rates, changes in liability conditions for imbalances—the list goes on. The next dominant scenario is price arbitrage. There we see large spreads, but there is a downside—high volatility and frequent changes in the regulatory environment,” Volosheniuk explained.
At the same time, he noted that the third scenario, which the company chose, appears to be the most effective, as it allows for combining several areas at once.
First, this makes it possible to apply classic arbitrage by shifting the timing of electricity production and sales, which allows for optimizing generation. Second, it creates an opportunity to balance the system and avoid unnecessary costs for paying for imbalances, which, according to Volosheniuk, account for every third MW*h of wind power generated.
Third, the UZE plus WPP scenario allows for optimizing the extent of electricity generation curtailments imposed by the system operator Ukrenergo during surplus hours.
“Accordingly, we have a combination of three scenarios and will switch to the one that is more profitable and effective. Our operating model shows that the optimal distribution of RES usage will look like this: arbitrage and working with curtailments account for 70% of RES usage, while another 30% is for managing imbalances. All that remains is to confirm the assumption—we expect to test the pilot in the near future,” explained the commercial director of Elementum Energy.
He emphasized that “the heart of our concept” is the development of our own software solution, which will combine all these scenarios in real time and automatically select and switch to the most productive one.
“All of this enables a stable business model for utilizing renewable energy sources: a combination of different areas of its operation and proprietary software tools for system management,” Volosheniuk concluded.
Elementum Energy, a subsidiary of VR Capital Group, is an international investor in Ukraine’s renewable energy sector. The company manages a portfolio of solar and wind power plants with a total capacity of 636 MW and continues to develop new projects in the field of wind energy and energy storage systems.
In early December 2024, Elementum Energy announced that it had acquired a 200 MW wind power project in western Ukraine and intends to prepare it for construction by the end of 2025.
The company also announced plans to commission the 60 MW “Danube” wind farm in southern Odesa Oblast by the end of 2026.
Elementum Energy reported on the development of a 10 MW small hydropower pilot project in late 2025.
