“We will not wait for the war to end” - Poland’s ELQ to invest €2.5 billion in Ukraine solar and energy storage

According to its records, ELQ currently has nine projects under development or construction in Ukraine, with a further ten under consideration, representing a total 1.1GW of projected capacity. Most of those are solar power plants.

CEO Marcin Sołtysiak told Polish outlet xyz.pl that ELQ expects to be joined in its investment by unnamed US and Saudi Arabian partners. It said it would assume a 10% equity investment in its projects, with 60% coming from international institutions and 30% from other private investors.

“Ukraine needs new sources of energy as soon as possible,” Sołtysiak told the publication. “We will not wait for the war to end. Ukraine needs new sources of energy as soon as possible, because a large portion of its power plants has been destroyed by Russian missiles.”

Last month, the World Bank estimated that the total cost of reconstruction and recovery in Ukraine is now almost US$588 billion (over €500 billion), of which the energy sector is the second-largest portion (US$91 billion (€77 billion)). Reuters reported comments from Ukrainian president Zelenskyy in January that almost 60% of Kiev was without power following Russian attacks.

Investment in distributed renewables has been a source of some—if limited—stability for the Ukrainian grid. Figures from 2024 showed that Ukrainian businesses turned to small self-consumption solar and battery energy storage systems (BESS) to increase their resilience, and PV Tech Premium heard last year that sales of solar and storage systems increase in the wake of shelling attacks.

Last month, our sister site, Energy-storage.news, spoke with Ukrainian member of parliament and chair of the Subcommittee on Energy Saving and Energy Efficiency, Serhii Nahorniak, about the strategic importance of energy storage systems for the survival of Ukraine’s grid and its integration with the wider European system.

Nahorniak attributed the gap between investors’ warm words about investing in Ukraine’s energy system and their concrete actions to “perception of risk”. ELQ, in starting its investments this year, seems happy to accept that risk. As well as solar, energy storage and wind power projects, the company is pursuing natural gas investments and the prospective development of small modular nuclear reactors in Ukraine.

PV Tech has contacted ELQ for comment on this story.