6 December 2023
Interview with Oleksandr Selyshchev, CEO of DTEK Renewables
This month, we sat down with Oleksandr Selyshchev, CEO of DTEK Renewables, to look at the impact of Russia’s invasion on Ukraine’s energy system, their achievements despite the onslaught, and their hopes for a free Ukraine powered by renewable energy.
Can you tell our readers a little about your organisation?
DTEK Renewables is the largest producer of electricity from renewable sources (wind and solar) in Ukraine. The company is a part of DTEK Group and started to work with renewables in 2008, when we began building our first 200 MW wind farm. Today we have 1.1 GW of installed wind and solar capacity – four wind farms and three solar farms. Unfortunately, 3 out of 4 of our wind farms are located in territory temporarily occupied by Russia since the full-scale invasion. Our pilot solar farm in Kherson region was also under occupation for half a year, but thanks to the Armed Forces of Ukraine it was liberated last autumn. When it was de-occupied we saw that it was seriously damaged and robbed of components. We started restoration the solar farm as soon as possible, and now it is 70% complete.
DTEK Renewables is a fully integrated platform with development, construction, M&A, financing, asset management and operating capabilities supported by a proven management team with international and domestic experience.
We have a highly professional team that implements wind and solar projects from conception through to operation. DTEK Renewables’ management team has strong expertise in the renewable and power sectors. Since 2020 our company also has its own service unit for maintaining wind and solar farms.
DTEK Renewables is the largest Ukrainian investor in green energy projects – over EUR 1 billion.
What are the most exciting developments you have seen in the wind industry?
During Russia’s shelling of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, DTEK Renewables was able to build 114 MW in phase I of DTEK’s Tyligulska wind power plant in the Mykolaiv region, just 100 km away from the frontline.
The construction of the wind farm had commenced before the war, and this WPP was supposed to become the largest in Ukraine, with a 500 MW design capacity. Russia’s full-scale invasion put construction on hold. Nevertheless, we believe in the victory of Ukraine and DTEK Renewables’ shareholder and management decided to resume construction of the wind farm. So we installed 19 Vestas EnVentus 6.0 turbines as quickly as possible, despite heavy shelling of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, the blackouts and the fuel crisis. During that period 296 air alerts were sounded. We worked day and night through harsh winter weather, shellings, blackouts, far away from our families. We had one common goal in mind – to build more power capacity for Ukrainians, and to bring more light into their homes.
This project became a symbol of belief in victory, and our resistance on the energy front. It was important for us to share this project publicly to inspire Ukrainians to fight on all fronts, and to show the world that investing in Ukraine is possible even in the midst of this war.
And we haven’t stopped there. On 4 December 2023, DTEK Group and Vestas signed a Memorandum of Understanding to complete the construction of the 500 MW DTEK Tyligulska WPP. Vestas, the world’s leading manufacturer of wind turbines, will supply the components for this project. Phase II of the wind farm will consist of 64 wind turbines with a total capacity of 384 MW. Investments for this phase amount to €450 million and will be financed by DTEK and leading banks. And the DTEK Renewables team is ready to begin construction in Q2 2024. We expect to see the project completed by the end of 2025.
What changes would you like to see in the wind industry?
2023 became a landmark period for the Ukrainian wind energy industry. Thanks to the liberalisation of the electricity market, most wind energy projects have switched to market conditions – operating without state support at the green tariff, although anyone is free to return to this support model.
This means that wind farms in Ukraine can be built under market conditions, and investors clearly understand the payback periods of their projects. Given Ukraine’s wind potential and the vast size of our country, all of this opens up extraordinary opportunities for investors.
Therefore, we support all further actions by the state to open up the market and introduce legislative and regulatory changes that will develop green energy in Ukraine and allow it to become a green energy hub for Europe.
We are confident for example that with the introduction of guarantees of origin, European consumers will be particularly interested in buying green electricity from Ukraine.
Going forward, what role do you see your organisation playing in the future development of wind energy?
We continue to be a driver of renewable energy development in Ukraine and will always promote the country’s potential on the international arena. Our strategy includes the construction of another 3 GW of capacity in renewables by 2030.
This includes the second stage of DTEK Tiligulska wind farm, the 650 MW Poltava wind farm and other projects that are at an early stage of design.
The Poltava wind farm is at the initial development stage and it has very good financial indicators. We hope that investors will be interested in implementing this project with us over the medium term.
How has WindEurope membership benefited your organisation?
There is a saying that a friend in need is a friend indeed. And your organisation, as well as many partners or energy companies in Europe, have provided and continue to provide significant support and assistance to our country since the beginning of the Russian military invasion. We appreciate it and are very grateful to you for it.
Your organisation is a powerful community that unites people and companies in their desire for a better future for Europe. Of course, it is worth living and working for.
If we look ten years ahead, what do you hope to have achieved?
First of all, we want to see the liberation of Ukraine, as soon as possible.
And over the next 10 years, we all need to make enormous efforts and investment to restore the power of the Ukrainian energy system. We need to fill it with new green energy capacities, which are environmentally friendly and resistant to any kind of shelling, compared to existing centralised electric power generation systems.
Find out more about DTEK Renewables
