Nebras Power is announcing its entry into the Ukrainian electricity market with the acquisition of six solar projects and a partnership agreement with UDP Renewables, Nebras Power reported on Twitter.
According to a report on the website of the president of Ukraine, UDP Renewables investment and development company and the Qatari state-owned company Nebras Power have signed an agreement to invest in “green” generation facilities, the construction of which is scheduled for 2021-2022.
According to the agreements reached, Nebras Power becomes the owner of a controlling stake in a number of solar power plant operators.
The signing of the agreement will contribute to deepening cooperation between Ukraine and the State of Qatar in the field of foreign investment and the development of renewable energy sources, an innovative economy and environmental protection, the President’s Office noted.
As reported, at the end of January, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) authorized Nebras Power Investment Management B.V. (the Netherlands), a member of the Qatar group Nebras, to receive 50% or more in six companies operating solar and wind power plants of businessman Vasyl Khmelnytsky and his partners.
According to the committee, the matter concerns 50% in Volyn West Wind-1 LLC and Volyn West Wind-2 LLC, as well as more than 50% in Free Energy Henichesk LLC, Scythia-Solar-1 LLC, Scythia-Solar-2 LLC and Port Solar LLC.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has recommended recommending the postponement of the wholesale electricity market opening in Ukraine, since the current state of groundwork for its implementation is not complete and the detailed regulatory and technical infrastructure required for a successful market is not yet in place.
According to a press release of the bank, on this basis, launching the new market on 1 July is likely to cause market malfunctioning and, therefore, be counterproductive to the interests of Ukrainian consumers and market participants.
“A postponement of the market opening should be, however, accompanied by a clear action plan of sequenced steps that would ensure its smooth introduction,” the bank said, adding that the EBRD is ready to offer all of its support in ensuring that this delay is as short as possible.
The EBRD said that the bank strongly endorse the introduction of a liberalized, competitive wholesale market in the power sector as the best route to deliver the highest possible efficiency in the generation of electricity.
Energy and Coal Industry Minister of Ukraine Ihor Nasalyk is convinced that the new wholesale electricity market should be launched from July 1, 2019, according to the terms prescribed in the law.
“The Energy and Coal Industry Ministry will insist on the introduction of the market from July 1. And we have all the main things for this. If someone is not ready, let them declare it and explain for what reasons they cannot cope with it,” he said on Wednesday in the Verkhovna Rada discussing the launch of the new market.
Nasalyk said that the ministry has developed a draft government resolution, according to which the issue of determining the supplier of electricity under the public service obligations (PSO) is settled, and expects its adoption by the Cabinet before the end of the month.
In turn, Serhiy Bedin, who is responsible for the market introduction at state-owned enterprise Energoatom, confirmed that the company is ready to “partially take this burden.”
National energy company Ukrenergo on April 1, 2019 started accepting documents to register electricity market players, the company has said.
Ukrenergo recalled that the registration is a mandatory condition for operation on the electricity market from July 1, 2019, as well as for testing the subsystem accepting and processing timetables of market players and the function of the payment administrator.
The form of the application for the registration that is to be sent to Ukrenergo in paper and guidelines are posted on the company’s website (https://u.to/aZkCFQ). The company also created a call center for consultations, phone (044) 238 37 00.
As reported, in July 2019 in Ukraine, the launch of a new model of the wholesale electricity market is scheduled pursuant to the law on the electricity market passed in April 2017. It is planned to move from work on the “single buyer” model to a competitive mechanism providing for bilateral contracts between producers and large consumers, suppliers, the introduction of the balancing market, the day-ahead market and the intraday market.
Ukrenergo on February 4 will disclose tender proposals submitted for the tender to purchase hardware for the balancing electricity market, which is launched from July 2019.
According to the company’s website, the launch of a new model of the wholesale electricity market with a division into a number of segments (a balancing market, a day-ahead market, an intra-day market) is scheduled for the second half of 2019 in accordance with the law on the electricity market.
At the end of December 2018, Ukrenergo held a pre-tender meeting with potential participants. Currently, eight companies have acquired tender documentation, in particular, from Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Israel, and Switzerland.
Ukrenergo noted that the implementation of the project to introduce the balancing market is divided into two parts: the purchase of software and the purchase of hardware (Lot 3 “Telecommunications Infrastructure”) as part of the package UE/5 “Implementation of the Balancing Market”).
“Such a division is made in order to purchase software for the entire market platform without being tied to a limited range of hardware vendors. This allows one to purchase hardware at reasonable and competitive prices to deploy the entire market platform software according to its technical specifications,” the company said.
