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Only renewable energy sources meet the criteria for a swift and resilient rebuilding of Ukraine’s power supply, which was destroyed during the war. This is the conclusion of an international research team, including BayBatt member Professor Dr. Marie-Louise Arlt.

Since the beginning of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine in February 2022, systematic attacks have been launched on the Ukrainian power system, targeting large power plants and the transmission network. An international research team, with the participation of Professor Marie-Louise Arlt, Junior Professor for Information Systems Research and Connected Energy Storage at the University of Bayreuth and a member of BayBatt, has now created a comprehensive, georeferenced map of Ukraine’s power system prior to the war and its destruction throughout the conflict. The team also calculated the potential for renewable energy in Ukraine and assessed how renewables could replace the damaged infrastructure.

Their findings show that, since February 2022, about 71% of Ukraine’s power generation capacity has been either damaged or occupied, reducing the country’s total power capacity to roughly one-third of its pre-war level. The eastern part of Ukraine, where the largest power plants are located, has been especially hard-hit, though attacks on power infrastructure, including substations, have occurred across the country.

“Our study analyses the scale of destruction in Ukraine’s power system and highlights the essential role that renewable energy can play in rebuilding. This not only reduces dependencies and makes the power supply more resilient to attacks, but it also marks another step towards the energy transition,” says Professor Arlt. Together with researchers from ETH Zurich and the Technical University of Munich, she evaluated, interpreted, and visualised the data collected in Ukraine.

Read the complete press release by the University of Bayreuth here.

To the publication "Why Renewables Should Be at the Center of Rebuilding the Ukrainian Electricity System" (Joule, 2024).