Ukraine is the largest country that is wholly in Europe. An aspiring member of the EU and Nato, it is still largely reliant on fossil fuels but can also boast a relatively high level of energy self-sufficiency.
Despite sharing borders with four EU member countries – Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania – Ukraine’s power grid is not integrated with those networks, meaning that electricity cannot be traded or exchanged.
Ukraine has to rely on Russia to balance its grid as it lacks the proper infrastructure to achieve the feat itself. This creates a dependency on Moscow that Kyiv is understandably uncomfortable with, given the frosty ties that exist between the two neighbours.
By 2023, Ukraine intends to decouple its grid from Russia’s and link it to the EU’s, which should in theory unlock a whole host of benefits for both sides. A lot of work still has to be done in order for that to become a reality.
Investments will have to be made in mechanisms and...