GLOBAL ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY DEVELOPMENT IN UKRAINE AND POLAND

Abstract

The article is devoted to the presentation of current trends in renewable energy development in the world, especially in two neighbouring countries – Ukraine and Poland. Poland’s energy sector’s transition path from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources (hereinafter RES) is analyzed. Polish experience is very valuable to take into consideration, as energy production in Poland has always been mainly based on coal. Nowadays due to international obligations of Polish government it’s necessary to adopt respective legislation and implement changes in actions in order to meet climate targets of the country and EU at whole. In addition to the requirements of low-carbon economy, the Russian full-scale war against neighbouring Ukraine is accelerating Polish switch to renewable energy sources. The article discovers peculiarities of Ukrainian energy transition to RES before and during full-scale war as well. The tough experience of Ukrainian energy system tackling challenges during the war nowadays is extremely important as none country of the world meets such problems as shelling of the energy infrastructure, blackouts, daily outages of electricity supply, total sharp refusal from russian fuel, gas and oil and still development of renewable energy at the same time. The world energy sector is transforming, shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Nowadays the most influential driver for such changes in Europe is green course and Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine and further refusal of EU countries to buy fossil fuels from the terrorist state of Russian federation. It was not an easy step, but EU had proclaimed its target of climate neutrality and renewable energy boosting before 2022. At the end of 2023 it can be affirmed that effective policy of EU has its positive results in rapid increasing of renewable energy sources (RES) in total electricity and heat production within EU members. The key purpose of achieving energy independence is approaching. With EUR 1.2 billion, Ukraine ranked among the top ten in terms of investments in "green" energy before the full-scale war. In the European market, investments in solar and wind capacity increased in Spain, Sweden and Norway. Although, as part of the EU-wide 2030 target, Poland declares to achieve 21-23% of RES share in gross final energy consumption by 2030 (total consumption in electricity, heating and cooling as well as for transport purposes). To achieve these goals, the Polish government actively promotes the development of wind energy projects, offering various incentives and support mechanisms to attract both domestic and foreign investors. According to preliminary forecasts, the country’s total wind power capacity could reach 40 gigawatts (GW) by 2040, with 10 GW coming from offshore wind projects.