Carlsberg Ukraine’s Kyiv plant has installed 1.5 MW diesel generator and cogeneration units (DGU, CGU) to ensure a stable power supply and plans to install a 500 kW solar power plant and a 5 MW power storage facility with a capacity of 10 MWh by the end of the year, according to Roman Sapiga, head of the plant’s automation and electrical engineering group.
“Our enterprise must operate without interruption, so the uninterrupted operation of our power generation facilities is extremely important to us. We chose a 1.5 MW diesel generator and a 1.5 MW gas generator… They work together in an ‘island’ mode and are connected to each other,” he said at the EnergoTech-2026 conference, which took place recently in Kyiv.
Sapiga noted that generation is controlled by a special program, which is constantly being improved.
“Sitting at our workstations, we can see almost all elements of the generation system and can start them up. It is necessary to manage them correctly. Every time we encountered a problem, a new automatic solution appeared,” shared the representative of Carlsberg Ukraine.
According to him, the company also imports electricity, and the management program allows it to track consumption so as not to exceed the limits at which the consumer is not disconnected according to hourly schedules (for this, it must import 60% of its consumption – EP).
“There is a program that tracks the price of electricity for the next day and decides whether to start the CHP and at what time, comparing the market price of electricity with the cost of its production from gas. It worked very well in the summer and early autumn, but with mass blackouts, it doesn’t work,” Sapiga noted.
The Carlsberg Ukraine plant in Kyiv plans to diversify its electricity sources by 2026.
“We are planning a 500 kW solar power plant. We want an energy storage facility (ESF) with a capacity of 5 MW and 10 MWh. We are a large producer. 3 MW of CHP and DG do not even cover half of our consumption,” Sapiga said in a comment to ENERGOREFORM.
As he noted, they plan to look for an investor with whom they can conclude direct contracts for electricity before building the solar power plant.
In addition, Sapiga emphasized that the main reason for developing their own energy supply is not the price of electricity, but the instability of the grid, since under such conditions the plant cannot operate normally.
He named some of the main challenges for 2025 as almost 60 hours of operation on its own generation in the event of a complete grid shutdown, constant software changes, and a reduction in the duration of the transition of generating units to “island” mode from 1.5 hours to 15 minutes.
“My advice is to diversify generation and have a management system that takes into account all available sources, as well as choosing reliable contractors with a good track record. This is especially important for enterprises and businesses,” Sapiga concluded.
Carlsberg Ukraine is part of the Carlsberg Group, one of the world’s leading brewery groups with a large portfolio of beer and other beverage brands. Carlsberg Ukraine includes factories in Zaporizhia, Kyiv, and Lviv. Carlsberg’s portfolio in Ukraine includes beer, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages of such brands as Lvivske, Robert Doms, Baltika, Carlsberg, Tuborg, Kronenbourg 1664, Arsenal, Kvas Taras, Somersby, and others.
According to data from Opendatabot, Carlsberg Ukraine increased its revenue by 15.5% to UAH 12.488 billion in 2024, its net profit by 19.4% to UAH 2.18 billion, debt obligations by 34.9% to UAH 5.11 billion, and assets by 33.1% to UAH 13.84 billion. The company currently employs 1,310 people.
