Dmytro Lukomskyi’s Expert Opinion for Energy Club

“We see prospects not of private roofing power plants, but commercial roof power plants. This is due primarily to the fact that in Ukraine the legislation regulating the field of solar energy is changing, but these changes are not yet complete. Therefore, today, for the stable operation of the solar power plant and the sale of electricity at the green tariff, the most predictable and understandable segment is the segment of rooftop solar power plants, as well as ground-based ones — up to 1 MW.

From Ukraine’s energy generation system point of view and the approach of electricity generation to the consumer (distributed solar generation), the most promising are rooftop installations. We see the same trends throughout the world. Our country will not lag behind world trends. A very important advantage of rooftop solar installations compared to ground ones is the fact that in the case of rooftop installations, power generation is as close as possible to the place of consumption. Any object that has a roof, most likely, has its consumption (building, workshop, warehouses, retail premises). So, the installation of solar panels on such facilities will be economically feasible even without any government support.

According to our calculations, at the current cost of electricity for industrial enterprises, in the case of installing a rooftop solar power station for own electricity consumption without sale to the external grid, its payback will be less than 10 years. Given the growth of electricity cost and the constant reduction of solar panels and components cost, we predict that the payback period of such plants will decrease, and will increase their attractiveness and number of installations accordingly.”