The OKKO Group, which includes the operator of the eponymous network of gas filling stations, Concern Galnaftogaz, plans to have approximately 600 MW of wind power capacity over the next five years, 200 MW in solar energy, and 150 MW in energy storage facilities (ESF), according to Vasyl Danylyak, CEO of OKKO GROUP and co-founder of GORO Mountain Resort.
“In the energy sector, we see ourselves in about five years with approximately 600 MW in wind, 200 MW in solar, and about 150 MW in batteries. We have already accomplished some of these goals,” he said during a Forbes Ukraine Business Breakfast broadcast on his YouTube channel on Thursday.
He also added that in the agricultural sector, which is a very interesting business, the group sees its KPI (key performance indicator) as increasing efficiency per hectare.
At the same time, he denied the possible exit of the group’s fuel business to public capital markets, but suggested that this could be done to some extent for other areas of activity.
“We thought about the public capital market for our core business, retail. This is not possible now because the fuel business has become unfashionable and toxic for capital markets, banks, and MFIs. But if we are talking about other businesses, then most likely it will not be classic public capital markets, but perhaps specialized large funds operating in certain areas. This is more realistic,” said the CEO of OKKO.
As reported, the OKKO Group is building the 147 MW Ivanychi wind farm in the Volyn region with a total cost of EUR 225 million (excluding VAT) and is seeking financing for its second wind energy project in this region, the 192 MW Zatyrintsy wind farm, which is estimated at EUR 250 million (excluding VAT).
The group also won a five-year special auction held by NEC Ukrenergo for the provision of power system balancing services, at which it announced the installation of a 20 MW energy storage facility (ESF).
In addition, the group plans to open a new 60,000-tonne elevator by autumn 2025 and a bioethanol plant in summer 2026. An important component of OKKO’s agricultural portfolio is its partnership with Gadz-Agro in the Ternopil region, in which the company acquired a stake in 2023. The enterprise cultivates 26,000 hectares of land and has about 10,000 head of cattle, including 5,000 dairy cows. It is also one of the largest horticultural farms in Ukraine, but OKKO decided not to integrate the horticulture business into its operations.
OKKO Group unites more than 10 diverse businesses in the fields of manufacturing, trade, construction, insurance, services, and other services. The flagship company of the group is Galnaftogaz, which operates one of the largest gas station chains in Ukraine under the OKKO brand, with almost 400 gas stations.
The founder and ultimate beneficiary of the group is Vitaliy Antonov.
On November 13, as part of the COP29 summit, a ceremony was held to sign the Agreement on Strategic Partnership in the Development and Transmission of Green Energy between Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.
In his speech at the event, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev emphasized that renewable energy is not an economic goal, but a contribution to the future, the result of a sense of responsibility to future generations.
The environmental importance of the project was particularly emphasized. The energy to be transmitted is wind and solar energy, a renewable and clean resource that will reduce the impact on the climate.
Thus, the parties support joint efforts to protect the climate under the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals.
It was noted that the signatory countries, having significant renewable energy resources, can make a significant contribution to the global energy transition.
Touching upon the efforts of Uzbekistan to develop a green economy, the Leader of Uzbekistan focused on the key aspects of large-scale work in this direction.
It was noted that about two gigawatts of solar and wind generation capacity is being commissioned annually in the country. In addition, an additional 2.6 gigawatts of renewable generation and 300 megawatts of energy storage systems will be connected to the grid by the end of this year.
By 2030, it is planned to increase the share of renewable energy sources to 40 percent, as well as to create 4.2 gigawatts of energy storage systems.
It was expressed that the economic effect of this project will be felt by all its participants.
The importance of accelerating the project implementation, including the establishment of a joint venture, development and approval of technical documentation and other procedures, was emphasized.
In conclusion, President Mirziyoyev reaffirmed Uzbekistan’s commitment to the joint implementation of this regional project.
During the Week of International Cooperation Initiatives, which took place on October 17-25 in Tashkent, Anthony Bringazen, Vice President for Central Asia of the Saudi company ACWA Power, said that the company is implementing large-scale projects in Uzbekistan worth about $15 billion.
This fund has been allocated for 15 projects. Most of the projects are related to wind energy. In particular, 87% of the investment will be directed to green energy projects, and the rest to the production of green hydrogen. All 15 projects are planned to be commissioned by 2030.
Anthony Bringaisen noted that after Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan accounts for the largest volume of the company’s investments.
It is noted that the $1.1 billion TPP project in the Syr Darya will provide electricity to more than 3 million households and hundreds of industrial enterprises. The first phase of the green hydrogen project will produce 3 thousand tons of hydrogen. Next, the focus will be on mineral fertilizer processing and the construction of a 52 megawatt wind farm.
COP29 plays a key role in the development of green energy in Azerbaijan. This event will provide our country with a unique opportunity to demonstrate its responsible attitude to the use of natural resources by developing green energy.
Jalal Huseynov, chairman of the Ukrainian-Azerbaijani business association Terezi, told AZERTAD.
According to him, Azerbaijan will be able to show its commitment to sustainable development and investment in environmentally friendly technologies.
“This not only reduces dependence on traditional energy sources, but also helps attract international investment, exchange of experience and strengthen cooperation in the field of climate policy. Thus, holding COP29 will be an important step towards a sustainable and environmentally friendly future for Azerbaijan,” J.Huseynov emphasized.
He noted that our country is actively working on the development of alternative energy: “We have recently signed an agreement on an energy cable from Azerbaijan to the EU, which will allow Eastern European countries, including Ukraine, to connect to this system. This agreement opens up new opportunities for cooperation in the field of green energy.
Azerbaijan’s investments in green energy projects have great potential, especially in the context of the destruction of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure as a result of Russian aggression and the shortage of electricity generation during the war. These investments will help not only restore but also modernize Ukraine’s energy system, making it more sustainable and environmentally friendly.”
Jalal Huseynov said that Azerbaijan could also become a transit country for gas from Central Asia through Ukraine: “This was recently announced by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Azerbaijan’s participation and experience in the development of new gas fields in Ukraine is also being considered, which indicates deep and promising economic ties between our countries.”
Germany has confirmed its intention to provide financial assistance for green energy initiatives in Ukraine, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
“The German Chancellor confirmed Germany’s intention to fill with specifics and financial assistance initiatives for green transformation, decarbonization and development of renewable energy in Ukraine. Our state is ready to offer great prospects for mutually beneficial cooperation in the field of green energy,” he said at a joint briefing with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Kyiv on Monday.
The share of energy from renewable sources in Ukraine should grow to 27% by 2030, including in the electric power industry – to 25%, heating and cooling – to 35%, transport – 14%.Achieving these goals provides for the draft National Action Plan for the Development of Renewable Energy for the period up to 2030 developed by the State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving of Ukraine and published for discussion on its website.
According to the draft document, it was developed, in particular, taking into account the results of the implementation of the National Action Plan 2020, according to which it was supposed to achieve indicators of the use of green energy in the electric power industry of 11%, heating and cooling – 12.4%, and transport – 10%. At the same time, upon fulfillment of the plan, these figures were 13.9%, 9.3% and 2.5%, respectively.
With this in mind, the agency proposes to ensure the further development of renewable energy on a competitive and market basis, including within the framework of an auction support system, namely, according to the Feed-in-Premium model.
According to the agency, the use of corporate power purchase agreements (PPA) will increase the share of renewable energy sources in the energy balance without additional financial burden on the state and consumers.
The agency also focuses on the need to introduce a system for issuing guarantees of the origin of electricity from alternative sources, including consumers who build green power plants for their own consumption.
“In the future, the Ukrainian system for issuing guarantees of origin of electric energy should be connected to the European hub of the Association of Issuing Bodies (AIB) and the regional register of guarantees of origin of the Energy Community,” the agency said.
In addition, it proposes to give priority to the development of renewable energy in the next 10 years to the regions with underdeveloped renewable energy capacities and energy-deficient regions, mainly northern ones, since by 2021 approximately 55% of renewable energy facilities have been built in five southern regions (Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odesa).
“This will be facilitated by holding auctions with certain regions,” the authors of the draft document said.
According to it, special attention in terms of the development of RES will be paid to Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the exclusion zone of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant is called a favorable territory for the development of RES.
According to the document, further government incentives for the development of solar power will be minimal, since the indicators of its development in accordance with the National Action Plan 2020 have been more than tripled.
It is planned that the capacity of solar power plants can be increased to 10 GW (currently it is 6.3 GW).
At the same time, National Action Plan 2030 provides for the intensive development of generation using wind energy, biomass and biogas, since their development is significantly behind the previous plan. As for bioenergy, one of the options is the conversion of coal and gas thermal power plants to work on alternative fuels, including biomethane.
Electricity production from wind energy in Ukraine can be increased by using more powerful wind turbines and commissioning new capacities of onshore wind farms. It is planned to increase such capacities up to 4.7 GW by 2030, offshore wind farm capacities to 300 MW (now it is 1.53 GW).
According to the plan, the bio-generation capacity should increase to 1.5 GW (currently 244 MW).
In addition, the plan provides for the development of hydroelectric power through, in particular, small hydroelectric power plants, as well as geothermal installations.
Regarding prosumers, it is noted that a potential model for their support instead of the feed-in tariff may be the use of the Net billing system, which provides for the use of netting for the supplied and consumed electricity between the supplier and the consumer in monetary units.
Another important market participant should be virtual aggregators – intermediaries between small players and the market, allowing consumers to sell their controlled loads and electricity that they generate and/or accumulate.
To ensure the technical integration of RES into the energy system, the plan provides for the commissioning of new highly flexible capacities with the ability to quickly start up in the amount of 1,350 MW and energy storage systems in the amount of 640 MW in 2030.
As for the consumption of green energy in heating and cooling systems, the plan indicates the need to create conditions for providing thermal power facilities with fuel.
“The mechanism for organizing the biofuel market in Ukraine should be the use of an electronic platform where all interested producers and consumers will trade it, as is the case in Lithuania on the Baltpool exchange,” the authors of the document said.
In addition to the available woody biomass, energy plants grown on marginal lands, as well as biomethane, are a promising renewable source for the production of thermal energy.
“It is advisable to increase the production of renewable thermal energy through the introduction of solar collectors, especially in the southern regions of Ukraine, where the amount of total solar radiation is 1,300-1,400 kWh per m2. The technically achievable potential of solar energy for heat production is, according to various estimates, 14.5-17 billion kWh per year,” the agency also said.
With regard to transport, according to the plan, the use of green energy in the transport sector is proposed at the expense of electricity produced from renewable energy sources, liquid and gaseous derivatives of biomass, and green hydrogen.
“The transformation of the industry will also be facilitated by changes to the Tax and Customs Codes of Ukraine to stimulate the development of the eco-transport industry in Ukraine, which will come into force on January 1, 2022,” the authors of the draft said.
