Energy in Ukraine



Energy in Ukraine is mainly from gas and nuclear, followed by oil and coal. Ukraine has a diversified energy mix, and no fuel takes up more than a third of the country’s energy sources. The coal industry has been disrupted by conflict. Most gas and oil is imported, but since 2015 energy policy has prioritised diversifying energy supply.

About half of electricity generation is nuclear and a quarter coal. The largest nuclear power plant in Europe, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, is located in Ukraine. Fossil fuel subsidies were USD 1.6 billion in 2021. Until the 2010s all of Ukraine's nuclear fuel came from Russia, but now most does not.

Ukraine’s gas network has a lot of storage, which can be useful for storing Europe’s gas to even out supply and demand, and it formerly transited a lot of Russian natural gas to Europe but that agreement ends at the end of 2024. Some energy infrastructure was destroyed in the Russo-Ukrainian War, but wind farms and solar power are thought to be resilient because they are distributed. An energy strategy to 2050 was adopted in 2023 but has not yet been published.



History
In 2011, Ukraine joined the European Energy Community, however there has been slow progress on implementing European energy regulations.

Finance
Ukraine signed a loan agreement in-principle for $3.65 billion with the China Development Bank in 2012, during President Viktor Yanukovich's term of office, contingent on the development of agreed projects in the coal and gas sectors. However, by 2017 Ukraine had not agreed any suitable projects due to a "lack of convergence in the positions of [Uglesintezgaz] and the energy ministry". Elementum Energy Ltd owns the most power plants.

During war
In the winter of 2022-23 Russia targeted switchyards and transformers, but the following  year they concentrated on power plants perhaps because they are harder to protect and take longer to repair.