Stop Waiting for the State to Solve Your Problems: Ruslan Shostak on Energy Independence

Ruslan Shostak, President of TERWIN

30.08.2024

We must say "Yes!" to life.

Recently, a friend told me about the problems his business faces due to power outages.

“Why not install a generator?” I asked. “It’s expensive,” he said.

It’s entirely understandable that it’s not cheap, but I believe the issue is much broader. It concerns the very existence of business in the country, and indeed the existence of the state itself.

Today, we only lack power for a few hours a day. Yet, some are ready to capitulate to live in comfortable conditions.

There is a book called "Man's Search for Meaning" by a psychologist who survived a concentration camp. It describes the conditions under which one can survive in the midst of hell. The main condition is psychological and physical adaptation. Those who adapted survived, and those who thought it would be short-lived perished. But Ukraine is not a concentration camp, though our living and business conditions are extremely difficult.

In our hell, inflicted by the terrorist state, we must say "Yes!" to life. Adapt and become as independent as possible. And we can do it. If everyone provides themselves with 1 kilowatt of electricity, we will have 30 GW, which is more than what was destroyed. Every person's contribution today is immensely significant.

Stop waiting.

Stop waiting for the state to solve your problems. Some people today can provide themselves with a source of energy. It’s expensive, but it’s a contribution by Ukrainians to the defeat of the enemy. I don’t understand why Ukrainian businesses are panicking. Install alternative sources, and that's it. Today, Ukrainian banks finance all this on good terms, and numerous companies help install capacities. The payback period is 2-3 years. The state has created the best conditions for the development of green energy. Today, it is a very attractive investment project for both businesses and private consumers. I emphasize once again that all the invested money will pay off in a short time.

We must understand that Ukraine is in the midst of a war. The enemy deliberately destroys energy infrastructure. We cannot know what to expect this winter and in the coming years. So, the golden rule must work: save yourself, don't wait for help. Yes, it’s more expensive than in peacetime. But instead, you get confidence in the future and thwart the enemy's plan.

The state has awakened, but too late.

The state has indeed done a lot to make the country more autonomous, but in my opinion, too late, and not everything has been implemented yet. Much more needs to be done to become fully independent and efficient. Everyone understood at the beginning of the war that the energy sector was the main target of the enemy. But only now, in the third year of the war, are bills being introduced to allow duty-free import of alternative sources. If this had been done earlier, we would be ready today.

Which sources to look at today?

I’m not an energy expert, so I won’t advise which battery to install. However, one thing is quite obvious — today, every company must have a headquarters consisting of lawyers, financiers, technical workers, and external experts. They will help the business and employees switch to alternative sources of generation and energy storage. Few of your employees understand this topic, and people need help to properly arrange and install everything.

I also want to note that today new opportunities are being created for businessmen. Stop complaining that there is no opportunity to develop your business; engage in a new direction — a service for the installation and maintenance of alternative sources. There is room in this market; there is a huge shortage of such companies across the country.

This is a multi-billion-dollar market.

Ukraine has a unique chance.

The main thing these new conditions give us is that Ukraine has received a unique chance to carry out the so-called "green transition." This refers to the process of replacing "dirty" thermal generation with cleaner sources that have a smaller carbon footprint. The developed world is currently moving in this direction. As for business, in a few years, economically developed countries will not consume products that are not produced from "clean" sources. Therefore, the future of the Ukrainian economy may not exist without green energy.

In 10 years, Ukraine will no longer be able to export most of its products if it does not have confirmation of the green origin of the energy used in their production. For us, this is no longer a matter of choice, but a matter of the existence of our goods in export markets.

Therefore, investments in the green economy are an investment in our own future:

• Firstly, your business will have guaranteed energy supply when the rest depend on centralized networks.
• Secondly, numerous small-capacity facilities represent the same distributed energy that the enemy finds harder to target. If instead of one thermal power plant in a city there are 1,000 small ones, it will be impossible to destroy them all at once.
• Thirdly, alternative plants have a bright future even after the war ends. In a few years, alternative sources will no longer be an innovation and will become as common as the internet.

If not for the war, the gradual process of converting coal-fired power plants to environmentally friendly sources would have taken many years. Eternal questions would have arisen about what to do with coal mining and the plants that burn it.

Considering the powerful lobbying capabilities of the owners of thermal generation and coal mines, Ukraine would have been stuck for a long time on the path to the "green transition."

However, as you know, the enemy has destroyed Ukraine's coal-fired thermal generation. Restoring it makes no sense as it was outdated and inefficient.

Therefore, we have a unique historical chance to quickly replace "dirty" sources with new, environmentally friendly ones. So we can complete the "green transition" in the next 2-3 years.

I believe that we can easily join the list of the "greenest" countries in the world if we unite now and approach this matter wisely.

In conclusion — we don’t know when the war will end. But our common task is to learn to live well, run, and develop our businesses in the conditions that the present allows. This is our competitive advantage and strength.

Everything depends on us.