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Tag: energy

Ukraine’s energy defence: how cogeneration and decentralized solutions are shaping a new model of resilience

As Russia turns Ukraine’s energy system into a target of daily strikes, the country is building a new model of resilience — based on decentralized generation and mobile cogeneration solutions. These technologies, capable of operating autonomously even during a complete blackout, are already forming “energy islands” for hospitals, water utilities, and district heating systems. In 2025, cogeneration has become one of the key tools of energy defence: from the rapid restoration of critical infrastructure to the creation of microgrids that withstand attacks where traditional generation can no longer cope.

December 4, 2025 - Yuliia Valova

Underpowered: how energy limits Europe’s AI future

Europe’s quest for digital sovereignty may depend less on ethics or regulations than on the reliability of its power supply.

November 6, 2025 - Zurab Khutsianidze

“O Brother, Where Art Thou?” Azerbaijan-Hungary relations on the rise

Relations between Baku and Budapest have often been low-profile in nature. However, this appears to be changing at a rapid pace. Links in fields such as energy are now transforming Hungary into Azerbaijan’s key partner in the European Union.

October 30, 2025 - Rusif Huseynov

Fossil fuels are a geopolitical weapon

An interview with Svitlana Romanko, founder and director of “Razom We Stand”. Interviewer: Aureliusz M. Pędziwol

AURELIUSZ M. PĘDZIWOL: Can you tell me a bit about your organization, which is called Razom We Stand?

SVITLANA ROMANKO: In Ukrainian razom means together. In the very first days of Russia’s full-scale invasion in Ukraine I initiated an international campaign called “Stand with Ukraine”. Its goal was to end the global fossil fuel addiction that feeds Vladimir Putin’s war machine. Our organization developed from this initiative and today we are made up of 15 brilliant individuals who reside in Kyiv and Ivano-Frankivsk, but we also have staff spread across in Europe, especially in Germany.

May 5, 2025 - Aureliusz M. Pędziwol Svitlana Romanko

Ukraine should become a key stakeholder in Central and Eastern European energy security

Europe is currently faced with a dilemma in its energy policy. While sanctions against Moscow have ended supplies from Russia, the EU and many member states are transitioning to more green energy sources. Given the current uncertainty facing the continent, a stronger energy partnership with Kyiv may be just the remedy.

September 6, 2023 - Jozef Hrabina

Russian infrastructure attacks aim to create humanitarian crisis

Since October 2022, Russia has been carrying out massive missile strikes on civilian infrastructure in order to force a humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. Temporary breaks in the electricity supply have become an everyday reality. Yet, a lengthy blackout poses a threat to the lives of millions of people and needs to be counteracted at all costs. Ukrainians continue to adapt to these difficult circumstances.

“When will the next power outage be and for how long will it last? This is something you never know. But this thought accompanies you especially when you are taking a lift to the 13th floor of the building.” Nadiya returned to Kyiv in October. Before, just like almost eight million Ukrainians, she found refuge abroad – in Poland and the United Kingdom. However, for her Ukraine is home and it is here that she sees her future. Even despite the fact that since October 2022 Russia has systematically been destroying Ukraine’s critical infrastructure.

February 16, 2023 - Maciej Zaniewicz

Building back greener: a roadmap for rebuilding post-war Ukraine

Ukraine can play an important role in the European Union’s energy transition. A green agenda should be prioritised as a part of Ukraine’s post-war recovery. Its integration into the EU’s energy market and energy transition priorities should become key targets not just for the EU, but for other external donors and international financial institutions.

Russia’s latest invasion of Ukraine in February triggered a global energy crisis and has forced the European Union to speed up its vision for energy security. It has also broken down the barriers between energy security and climate policy. At the same time, Ukraine needs to review its own vision for energy security; as a candidate for EU membership it ought to enact binding targets to reduce its fossil fuel use. The EU’s climate target for 2030 was to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than half compared to levels in 1990. This target is in line with the EU Green Deal objective of achieving climate neutrality by 2050.

September 29, 2022 - Oksana Khomei

Georgia’s move towards a green economy: possibilities, drawbacks and structural challenges

Green issues are usually not the first thing that comes to mind regarding Georgian politics. Despite this, the signing of a recent treaty shows that the country is starting to take climate change seriously. Tbilisi must subsequently make sure that such promises now result in real change.

August 16, 2022 - Lasha Gamjashvili

What Russia needs most is cash for bombs

An interview with Piotr Woźniak, former president of Polskie Górnictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo (PGNiG), Poland’s largest gas company. Interviewer: Mykola Voytiv

MYKOLA VOYTIV: If we look at prices and the war, what do you think awaits the European gas market?

PIOTR WOŹNIAK: The sharp rise in natural gas prices was caused by increased demand from the European Union in November and December 2021 – Russia expected this and prepared by not pumping natural gas into underground gas storages in the Netherlands, Austria and Germany. Russia’s aggression in Ukraine only intensified this dynamic. Keep in mind, that natural gas prices are a relative concept. Whilst some are fixed in bilateral contracts for gas supply, such as Russian natural gas, natural gas from the Norwegian continental shelf, or LNG, others are priced in line with European energy exchanges and hubs.

July 14, 2022 - Mykola Voytiv Piotr Woźniak

A lot at stake for Estonia as it shifts away from oil shale

Amidst rising concerns over climate change, the Estonian government has pledged to stop burning oil shale for power generation by 2035. Tallinn will also give up the fossil fuel altogether by 2040. Oil shale, however, has a long history in Estonia and is the country’s main source of electricity. Abandoning its use is not only a climate-related issue, but a geopolitical one as well.

In the weeks immediately following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Estonia’s top brass showed up, one after another, in Narva, Estonia’s third largest and overwhelmingly Russian-speaking city. This included the country’s president, prime minister and defence and interior ministers. They gathered in places never far from the “Friendship Bridge” connecting Estonia’s most eastern city with its Russian sister city Ivangorod. Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said that she had come to assert her government’s “commitment to the region's development”.

July 14, 2022 - Isabelle de Pommereau

The Ukrainian electric power industry on the front line: challenges and opportunities ahead

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has directly threatened the operation and future of the country’s energy industry. Despite this, the ongoing challenges faced by the sector and opportunities that opened up may make it more resilient and adaptable in the long run.

May 3, 2022 - Ruslan Kermach

Dirigisme 2.0. The way to go for the region?

Most countries of Central and Eastern Europe that are now members of the EU developed impressively since the collapse of the centrally planned economy. Yet, Poland and other countries in the region still lack their own capital to compete on a global scale. The merger of Poland’s two state-owned refineries, Orlen and LOTOS, could illustrate a solution – selective state-ownership in crucial sectors.

Economic power is not shared equally across the European Union. Only one out of all EU companies in the Global Fortune 500 ranking is based in one of the new member states that joined the union after 2004. The remaining 112 companies are based in the “old” EU. Yet, as the case of a merger of two state-owned Polish oil companies shows, this unparalleled level of inequality is not being addressed by Brussels.

September 4, 2020 - Jakub Bartoszewski Michael Richter

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