The extraordinarily difficult winter that Ukraine has just endured clearly demonstrated how critical energy issues have become for the country. During wartime, energy security directly affects not only the functioning of the economy but has also become an integral component of national security. Ukrainian media have even described the pursuit of energy resilience as a new national idea, reflecting its vital importance for the country's present and future.
The foundation of Ukraine's energy resilience is increasingly being built on a diversified energy generation system that combines conventional large-scale power production—based on thermal, nuclear, and hydroelectric power plants—with electricity generated from renewable energy sources. These include primarily wind and solar power, biogas, as well as innovative technologies such as hydrogen energy. "Modern renewable energy has become the foundation of Ukraine's energy resilience. As a critical instrument for ensuring the survival of the power system during wartime, it addresses the challenges of decentralization, energy supply, grid balancing, and alignment with European standards," emphasized Stepan Kudria, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Director of the Institute of Renewable Energy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and Scientific Advisor to the Department of Renewable Energy Sources at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, in his opening remarks at the 27th International Scientific and Practical Online Conference "Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency in the 21st Century." The conference was held in late May.
Interest in the future development of renewable energy is therefore growing at both the national and local government levels. At the same time, the number of researchers and engineering professionals working in this field continues to increase. The conference clearly reflected this trend: it brought together 182 participants, including 28 experts from Germany, Poland, Uzbekistan, China, and Spain. The breadth of institutional support was equally impressive. The conference was organized by the Institute of Renewable Energy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine; the Representative Office of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Kyiv; Warsaw University of Technology; the Energy Association "Ukrainian Hydrogen Council"; the Institute of General Energy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine; the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine; the Ukrainian National Committee for Heat and Mass Transfer; the Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine; Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute; and the UNESCO Chair "Higher Technical Education, Applied Systems Analysis and Informatics" at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and the Educational and Research Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.
"Over the past year since the previous conference, the importance of research in renewable energy and energy efficiency has increased significantly," said Anatolii Melnychenko, Rector of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, in his welcoming address to the participants. "Today, substantial efforts are being made to improve the situation in Ukraine's energy sector through decentralization, including the large-scale deployment of renewable energy technologies and the implementation of energy efficiency measures across all sectors of the national economy." At the same time, he noted that conventional engineering, technical, and organizational approaches to ensuring the country's energy supply may prove insufficient under crisis conditions. Consequently, the need to introduce innovation into the energy sector—based on cutting-edge scientific research and rapidly translated into practical applications—has become more pressing than ever. He also highlighted one of the university's most promising educational initiatives: the establishment of an Energy Innovation Hub. Developed in cooperation with industry partners, the hub includes a training cogeneration unit that will be used for the education and professional retraining of specialists in areas such as cogeneration technologies and resilient energy supply systems. The certificate program is scheduled to begin on September 1 and will provide specialized training for professionals in these fields. Thus, many faculty members and students of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute are actively involved in developing and implementing innovative energy projects, while the conference serves as an important platform for exchanging knowledge and strengthening cooperation among researchers and industry professionals from Ukraine and abroad.
"This conference has become an effective platform for building collaborations and strengthening partnerships with both Ukrainian and international colleagues," said Vasyl Budko, Dean of the Faculty of Electric Power Engineering and Automatics, which has been a permanent co-organizer of the forum throughout its entire history.
Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Mykhailo Zgurovsky presented an overview of the current state of the global energy sector and the transformation processes reshaping it. According to data from the International Energy Agency, more than 80% of newly installed power generation capacity worldwide now comes from renewable energy sources. Their combined installed capacity has already exceeded 3.7 TW. Solar power is experiencing the fastest growth, with global installed capacity reaching approximately 1.6 TW, while the cost of electricity generation has fallen by about 80% over the past decade. In wind energy, generation costs have declined by 60–70%. According to projections by the United Nations and the International Energy Agency, renewable sources will account for up to 90% of global electricity generation by the middle of the century. At the same time, energy storage technologies and hydrogen energy are developing rapidly, while global investment in green energy has already surpassed USD 1.7 trillion annually. For Ukraine, these trends are of particular importance, as the country's energy infrastructure has suffered extensive destruction as a result of the war. At the same time, this has created the conditions for a transition to a new, decentralized energy model—one that is flexible and fully integrated with the European energy sector. From this perspective, the topics highlighted in the conference program are especially relevant, including hydrogen energy, microgrids, the modeling of complex energy systems, energy storage technologies, and energy efficiency. According to Academician Zgurovsky, these areas will form the foundation of Ukraine's post-war energy system while aligning fully with the European energy strategy.
The opening ceremony also featured a comprehensive keynote presentation prepared by Stepan Kudria together with Oleksii Zurian, Deputy Director for Research at the Institute of Renewable Energy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, who delivered the report. Entitled "Renewable Energy Sources and Green Hydrogen in the Post-War Energy Architecture of Ukraine," the presentation examined the role of renewable energy sources in shaping Ukraine's future energy system under wartime conditions and throughout the country's post-war recovery. It analyzed the challenges of integrating renewable energy into Ukraine's Unified Power System, focusing on issues of grid flexibility and generation balancing, while also demonstrating the strategic importance of green hydrogen as a long-term energy storage solution and a key instrument for decarbonizing industry and transport. The authors also presented the results of a geospatial assessment of the technical potential for solar and wind power generation across Ukraine's territorial communities as a basis for modeling green hydrogen production. Drawing on statistical data and scientific research, the report offered important conclusions and projections for the future development of renewable energy in Ukraine. Among its key findings was the conclusion that hydrogen energy should become one of the cornerstones of this development, given that green hydrogen can be applied in metallurgy, the chemical industry, transport, heating systems, and electricity generation. According to the researchers, its widespread adoption would significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Beyond its environmental benefits, the development of a hydrogen economy could increase Ukraine's GDP by an estimated 4–6% by 2030 and 12–15% by 2050, while creating a new high-tech sector of the economy and attracting substantial investment. Nevertheless, attempting to reproduce the entire presentation in a newspaper article would do it little justice. Readers interested in these issues are encouraged to visit the website of the Institute of Renewable Energy, where the conference materials have already been made available.
Indeed, the conference materials published on the Institute's website include the abstracts of most of the presentations and reports delivered during the event. It is worth noting that the conference was organized into several thematic sections: "Energy Carriers of the Future. Hydrogen Energy," "Energy Efficiency. Modeling of Complex Energy Systems," "Educational Activities," "Solar Energy," "Wind, Hydropower and Geothermal Energy," and "Bioenergy," as well as a section devoted to general topics. A separate session served as the venue for the concluding event of the Ukrainian-German research project GerUCCHy, during which recommendations for the certification of green hydrogen in Ukraine were presented. The project aims to build the expertise required for developing and operating a cross-border, internationally compatible hydrogen certification system to facilitate trade between Ukraine and the European Union, particularly Germany. In addition, as has become a tradition, the conference featured a dedicated Junior Academy of Sciences section, where its youngest participants presented their poster projects.
At the conclusion of the conference, the participants adopted a resolution that, among other provisions, identified the most pressing priorities for fundamental and applied research, as well as research, development, and engineering activities in the field of renewable energy. These priorities include:
– the optimal deployment of energy generation capacities, taking into account the potential of distributed generation and resilient hybrid local energy systems based on diverse renewable energy sources;
– aligning the pace of renewable energy deployment with the balancing capabilities of the power system, including the implementation of energy storage technologies, forecasting tools, and demand-side management;
– innovative methods of hydrogen production and the application of hydrogen technologies in the energy sector and other industries;
– the use of energy-efficient technologies in energy systems, municipal infrastructure, and transport that are resilient to adverse external impacts.
The conference Organizing Committee also emphasized the importance of involving the scientific community in the development of legislation and national strategies covering all areas of renewable energy, hydrogen technologies, and energy efficiency.