On 1 September, DTEK Tyligulska Wind Power Plant left the balancing group of Guaranteed Buyer and started selling electricity on the Ukrainian electricity market. DTEK Renewables is using the opportunity provided by the government to all participants in the renewable energy sector to sell electricity on the market independently.
Regarding that the Ukrainian electricity market has been somewhat liberalised since 1 July with the increase in price caps, leaving the balancing group of Guaranteed Buyer allows some renewable energy companies to generate revenues comparable to the feed-in tariff. In particular, this applies to wind energy projects.
"Some of the wind turbines at Tyligulska WPP have been operating on market terms since the beginning of summer. Now the market price environment allows us to receive the necessary funds in a timely manner to maintain stable operation of the plant during the heating season and make payments to creditors," said DTEK Renewables CEO Olexandr Selyshchev. - "That is why we have decided to fully sell electricity from this wind farm on the market. We also hope that the government will continue its efforts to resolve the problem of the accumulated debts to the Ukrainian renewable energy sector."
Electricity from the wind power plant will be sold through D.Trading. The company has established its own balancing group and is actively engaging both wind farms and solar power plants in Ukraine to operate on the free market, successfully managing producers' imbalances and obtaining the best price for the electricity sold.
The legislation also allows companies to return to the balancing group of Guaranteed Buyer at any time and operate at a feed-in tariff. This is especially useful if decisions are made that will limit the market and negatively affect the income of such renewables producers that have decided to operate in the market and compete with conventional power generation.
Liberalisation of the electricity market, removal of price restrictions, opening of exports, etc. will have a stimulating effect on the entry of most RES producers, who currently receive only 40-45% of their payments from the Guaranteed Buyer, while the rest of the debt can be paid in a year or two.