IN Brief:
- Ukraine is preparing a tender for 1,505MW of entirely new flexible generation capacity across its most supply-constrained regions.
- Eligible facilities must provide black-start capability, strengthened physical protection, and at least 20 years or 100,000 operating hours of service.
- Successful projects will receive time-limited peak-period market support while taking responsibility for construction and grid connection.
Ukrenergo is advancing a tender designed to add 1,505MW of new flexible generation to Ukraine’s power system, directing capacity towards regions carrying the greatest supply deficits and infrastructure damage.
Following approval of the draft documentation, potential investors have been invited to comment before formal bidding begins. The programme covers new generating facilities in the Kharkiv, Sumy, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Chernihiv, and Kyiv regions, together with the city of Kyiv.
By setting a minimum project size of 10MW, the tender allows capacity to be distributed across multiple locations rather than concentrated entirely in a small number of centralised plants. Likely technologies include fast-starting gas engines, gas turbines, and other generating systems capable of adjusting output rapidly as network conditions change.
Technical requirements extend beyond normal dispatch, since each project must be capable of black-start operation and support the restoration of local networks after a widespread outage. Strengthened physical protection will also be required to reduce vulnerability to aerial attack.
Assets must provide at least 20 years of operation or 100,000 operating hours, while construction is expected to be completed within 20 months of contract award. A proportion of the equipment likely to participate has already been imported and is awaiting connection or final project development, potentially shortening part of the delivery programme.
The commercial structure uses a one-sided market premium during defined peak periods. Support is expected to apply for seven hours a day during autumn and winter and five hours during spring and summer, over a five-year period.
Under that arrangement, the premium will cover the difference between market prices and the successful tender price up to a stated ceiling, while generators remain exposed to normal market conditions outside the supported windows. Developers must therefore balance contracted support against fuel costs, efficiency, maintenance, availability, and dispatch opportunities.
Distributed capacity supports restoration and balancing
Ukraine’s system requires capacity capable of meeting several operating needs simultaneously, including peak demand, regional voltage support, rapid output adjustment, and the restoration of local networks after major outages. Black-start capability and geographical location therefore carry value beyond ordinary energy production.
Smaller generating units can be installed across several sites, reducing dependence on single large facilities and shortening the electrical distance between generation and critical demand. They can also be commissioned in stages, although a distributed portfolio introduces a larger number of connections, protection schemes, fuel arrangements, communications links, and maintenance locations.
Community-scale solar and storage systems are already supporting local resilience, while the 1.5GW tender addresses a different level of the network. Dispatchable plants must operate through evening peaks, support system restoration, and provide controlled output when renewable generation or imports are unavailable.
Reliable fuel supply will be as important as grid connectivity. Gas-based units can start and ramp rapidly, but their resilience depends on pipeline pressure, compressor operation, local storage where applicable, and the continued integrity of upstream infrastructure.
Electrical auxiliaries, cooling systems, lubrication, control power, and communications must also remain available during disturbed conditions. A generating unit cannot support restoration if its own essential services depend on the section of network it is intended to re-energise.
Black-start design requires detailed coordination between generating equipment and system restoration plans. Each unit must energise its auxiliaries, establish stable voltage and frequency, pick up load in controlled increments, and withstand the transient conditions created as transformers, lines, and demand are reconnected.
Delivery speed carries engineering risk
A 20-month construction period leaves limited margin for projects requiring site preparation, permits, high-voltage connections, fuel infrastructure, protection systems, controls, testing, and security works. Imported generator packages may shorten procurement, although transformers, switchgear, cable systems, civil works, and network studies can still determine the critical path.
Regional allocation should direct investment towards areas where capacity provides the greatest system benefit, but consistent technical standards will be required across multiple transmission and distribution interfaces. Remote control, dispatch visibility, cybersecurity, metering, and data exchange must remain reliable if the combined fleet is to operate as a coordinated flexibility resource.
Earlier ancillary-service auctions have already brought around 650MW of new distributed generation into operation. The next procurement is larger and more prescriptive, reflecting the need for assets that remain useful after immediate emergency conditions have eased.
As the system stabilises, the plants will compete in a market containing more renewable generation, cross-border power flows, and reconstructed transmission infrastructure. Units with stronger efficiency, wider operating ranges, and lower maintenance requirements will retain more value outside the supported peak periods.
The one-sided premium limits part of the revenue uncertainty without removing operating discipline. Developers remain responsible for fuel procurement, construction, grid connection, performance, and availability, while poorly utilised or inefficient plants may struggle to earn sufficient income beyond the supported windows.
Final tender rules and awards are expected before the end of 2026. Contracted capacity will only translate into resilience when projects connect on schedule, meet their protection and black-start obligations, and operate as a coordinated part of Ukraine’s restored power system.
