DTEK Energy Holding, through its EU-focused subsidiary DRI, has signed an agreement with Polish company Columbus Energy to build a 133 MW energy storage system in southern Poland.
“On March 27, DRI signed a definitive binding share purchase agreement with Polish company Columbus Energy, which will give it the right to build a 133 MW battery storage facility in southern Poland, subject to permits,” DTEK said in a release on its website on Wednesday.
DTEK notes that this is the largest energy storage system (ESS) project in Poland, and the agreement is its first major infrastructure investment in the country and a key element in the company’s plan to create a pan-European energy system uniting Ukraine and the EU. DTEK’s goal is to create a 5 GW portfolio of renewable energy projects in Europe by 2030 through DRI.
The acquisition of the 133 MW SPP project makes DTEK Group one of the first companies to develop this technology on a large scale in Poland, the release said.
DRI expects to close the deal with Columbus in the coming months and start construction of the facility in Q4 2024 to complete it and put it into operation in early 2026. The project is committed to providing energy capacity to the Polish market for 17 years (from 2027).
“Today’s signing marks an exciting moment in Europe’s quest to move beyond fossil fuels. This project will not only provide vital flexibility on Poland’s path to a renewable future, but will also be an important achievement for Central and Eastern Europe in demonstrating how battery storage can be successfully developed. DTEK’s investments in the country are a crucial step towards the integration of the energy systems of Ukraine and Poland,” said Maxim Timchenko, CEO of DTEK Group, as quoted in the release.
According to Krzysztof Kokhanowski, Vice President of the Board and CEO of PIME, the largest association in the energy storage industry in Poland, it is gratifying to see international energy players like DTEK investing in the Polish battery market through its EU subsidiary.
“Poland is one of the leaders in the European Union in the production of batteries and battery cells, and in the next 5 years it will be one of the leaders in the construction of energy storage facilities based on battery technology. The construction of this new facility will certainly contribute to our country’s efforts,” he said.
According to the release, Poland currently uses 30 GW of coal and natural gas-fired power to balance its energy system, which is increasingly using renewable energy sources and shifting from centralized to distributed generation. The batteries will help to ensure the grid’s performance and provide the power system with a reliable mechanism for balancing the unstable nature of renewable energy.
As reported, DTEK Group implemented a 1 MW pilot project in Enerhodar in 2021, before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It is now under occupation. In early 2024, DRI launched its first projects in Europe: in Romania, the 60 MW Ruginoasa wind farm and the 53 MW Glodeni solar power plant. It also intends to develop renewable energy in Romania, Italy, and Croatia.
DTEK has purchased a system that will increase the efficiency of oil and gas field development.
“Our team has started using the Stryde cable-free seismic survey system, which will help us: conduct exploration at greater depths, improve the accuracy of forecasts, and abandon heavy equipment,” the energy holding said on its Telegram channel on Friday.
According to DTEK, the system has already been successfully used at one of the fields in Poltava region and made it possible to abandon heavy trucks.
As reported, DTEK Oil&Gas produced 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2022 (2.06 billion cubic meters in 2021). In 2023, the company intends to invest $120-130 million in gas production. 70% of these funds will be used to develop new fields.
In November 2022, DTEK Oil&Gas companies acquired the right to develop two gas fields in Poltava region at an open auction: Mayorivska field for UAH 1.102 billion and Birkivsko-Zinkivska field for UAH 211 million.
DTEK Group’s total investments in its areas of activity in Ukraine, excluding the Tiligul wind farm project, amounted to approximately $550 million in 2023, and $1 billion in total since the beginning of the full-scale war, said Maxim Timchenko, CEO of the group.
“The total volume of investments in DTEK Group, excluding the Tiligul wind farm project (EUR 200 million – IF-U), was approximately $550 million last year, and $1 billion in total since the beginning of the full-scale war,” Timchenko said in an exclusive blitz interview with Interfax-Ukraine from the International Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.
According to him, during the war, DTEK “invested huge amounts of money in grids, power plants, coal mining, oil and gas.”
“There are probably not many Ukrainian companies that have invested so much in the country’s economy during a full-scale war,” the DTEK CEO emphasized.
“In 2023, DTEK Energy invested about UAH 11 billion in the repair campaign at thermal power plants and Ukrainian coal mining, which is almost twice as much as in 2022, when investments amounted to about UAH 6 billion.
“Thanks to this, we managed to restore a significant part of the thermal generation capacities damaged by enemy shelling, implement the annual scheduled repair campaign at thermal power plants, and support the production of coal volumes necessary for their reliable operation,” the energy holding said in a press release on Friday.
Last year, the company’s power engineers restored nine power units after massive shelling. The renewed facilities made it possible to increase the operation of thermal generation at peak consumption.
“To prepare the equipment of thermal power plants for maximum performance in the current heating season, DTEK Energy has carried out 24 repairs of power units as part of the annual scheduled maintenance campaign,” the company said.
In addition, DTEK Energy has mothballed two additional power units with a total capacity of 500 MW to compensate for the capacities that could not be repaired before winter. Investments in the repair campaign, according to preliminary data, amounted to about UAH 4 billion, compared to UAH 2.2 billion in 2022.
As part of the repair campaign, the company purchased and stockpiled critical equipment in case of new shelling, and provided TPPs and mines with backup power sources in the form of more than 200 powerful generators.
Last year, DTEK Energy also put 26 new coal faces into operation, which allowed miners to meet their production targets and provide Ukrainian thermal power plants with enough fuel to operate during the heating season and other peaks in consumption.
According to preliminary data, the company’s investments in Ukrainian coal mining amounted to about UAH 7 billion, compared to UAH 3.8 billion in 2022.
“We went through the most difficult winter and recovered as much as physically possible after such large-scale attacks and in such a short time. And we have already come close to the equator of the current heating season. For our part, we have strengthened the resilience of thermal generation, as it bears the lion’s share of responsibility for balancing the power system during peak consumption,” summarized DTEK Energy CEO Ildar Saleev, as quoted in the press release.
“DTEK Energy provides a closed cycle of electricity generation from coal. The installed capacity in thermal power generation as of January 2022 was 13.3 GW). The company has established a full production cycle in coal mining: coal mining and enrichment, mechanical engineering and maintenance of mine equipment.
“DTEK Energo plans to import about 210,000 tons of coal from Poland for more reliable passage of the autumn-winter period by thermal generation, the energy holding company said in a press release on Wednesday.
Under the fuel import contract, an agreement has been reached on the supply of thermal coal throughout the heating season, starting from September 2023 and until March 2024.
As the company noted, the first coal shipments are expected as early as this week.
“In the conditions of war, unpredictable actions of the enemy and the increased load that the company’s thermal power plants have been carrying in recent months, additional volumes of imported fuel will allow to “back up” and provide an additional margin of safety for a more stable passage of the nearest heating season by thermal generation,” said Ildar Saleev, CEO of DTEK Energo, quoted in the press release.
As reported, DTEK Energy’s thermal power plants have increased their electricity output by 28% over the last four months compared to the same period last year. In turn, in August, when consumption was at record highs for the summer due to the heat wave, power engineers generated 35% more electricity than in August 2022.
In just eight months of this year, DTEK Energy’s thermal power plants supplied almost 9.9 bln kWh of electricity, which is equivalent to the average consumption of about 3.3 mln households during the year.
DTEK Energo’s thermal power plants have increased electricity production by 28% over the past four months compared to the same period in 2022, the energy holding company said in a press release on Wednesday.
“In August, when consumption held at record highs for summer due to the heat wave, power engineers generated 35% more electricity into the energy system than in August last year,” the company said.
In total, in January-August 2023, the company’s thermal power plants released about 9.9 billion kWh of electricity, which is equivalent to the average consumption of about 3.3 million households during the year.
“Power engineers do their best to, on the one hand, repair, restore and prepare the plants for maximum load in the fall and winter period, on the other hand, to reliably maintain and insure the energy system during other peak periods as well. For this purpose, just last week we put two power units of our TPPs into operation after repair, with a total capacity of almost 400 MW,” DTEK Energy CEO Ildar Saleev was quoted in the press release.
DTEK Energy currently operates six of the nine TPPs remaining in the unoccupied territory of Ukraine: Burshtynska, Dobrotvirska and Ladyzhynska TPPs (DTEK Zakhidenergo), Prydniprovska and Kryvorizka TPPs (DTEK Dniproenergo) and Kurakhovska TPP (Vostokenergo LLC).
