UK government supports Innovate Ukraine green energy programme

The programme aims to rebuild Ukraine’s energy system, displace fossil fuels, and support post-war recovery. It will leverage an additional £5m in private sector co-investment and involves collaborations between over 50 UK and Ukrainian organisations.

In a statement, Herman Halushchenko, Ukrainian Minister of Energy, said: “We have a chance to demonstrate that the struggle for energy independence is a fight for the future. The green transition goes way beyond ecology or distributed generation. For Ukraine, this is a matter of national security. I am sure that the implementation of the project in the field of green technologies is of great importance for the future cooperation between Ukraine and the UK in the energy sector.”

In one of the projects, Aston University and the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine will work with Heat Pumps VDE LLC and other partners on a new space heating technology that makes heat pumps ‘significantly easier’ to retrofit into existing domestic heating systems.

The technology aims to tackle the challenge of integrating heat pumps by efficiently delivering significantly higher temperatures than existing technologies, thereby allowing direct substitution for a conventional boiler without expensive modifications being required to heat distribution systems. A demonstration system will be installed in Ukraine as part of the project.

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For their part, Ukrainian company R-Flo and UK’s DpSun are working on a new and novel energy storage technology which is designed to enable Ukraine to host a much greater level of renewable energy in its future electricity grid.

The project will develop and test a new form of scalable battery storage technology in Ukraine which is said to be simpler, cheaper and less toxic than existing technologies.

Further projects include a more targeted approach to harnessing Ukrainian geothermal energy and work to optimise the country's bioenergy resources.

Martin Harris, the British Ambassador to Ukraine, said: “I am proud that the UK continues to support the recovery of the Ukrainian energy sector, particularly after recent brutal attacks from Russia. We want to see it greener and more resilient.

“Our support for these 13 innovations – which bring together the best of British and Ukrainian business, universities, and civil society – will help Ukraine recover in a more sustainable way. These projects showcase the depth and breadth of partnership between our countries.”

The funded projects will implement their work plans over the next two years and receive support from an accelerator programme for further investment and market entry.