The Parliament on February 24, 2023, approved in the second and final reading the bill on the development of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles (the "Electric Vehicles Infrastructure Bill"). The bill is to be signed into law by the President.

The Electric Vehicles Infrastructure Bill suggests incentives for the charging infrastructure network, which will result in a surge in the number of electric vehicles and electric buses on Ukrainian roads and reduce the number of "dirty" vehicles.

The law provides for:

The Electric Vehicles Infrastructure Bill also introduces restrictions on the purchase and operation of buses with internal combustion engines (ICEs) used in public transportation. Starting from 2036 buses with internal combustion engines (except for hydrogen and methane) will be banned from public transport. Local authorities may adjourn the ban, but no more than two years.

On February 1, 2023, the Minister for Energy of Ukraine, Herman Galushchenko, and the Minister for Climate, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology of Austria, Leonore Gewessler, signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the establishment of an energy partnership in energy transition and renewable energy sources. The document will create a basis for in-depth cooperation between the countries in the format of an energy partnership. 

The document envisages the exchange of best practices in energy transition (energy system planning, state support schemes, etc.); introduction of innovative technologies in renewable energy sources; demand management and development of distributed generation; acceleration of the deployment and use of renewable hydrogen.

The Memorandum also enables the establishment of a joint working group, in particular, to address organizational issues and plan further cooperation.

In addition, the Minister for Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, Ruslan Strilets, and Leonore Gevessler signed a Memorandum of Understanding relating to environmental protection, partnership in the field of energy transition and renewable energy sources.

The document will create favourable conditions for bilateral cooperation between Ukraine and Austria in an environmental protection area, given the challenges caused by armed conflicts that have devastating consequences for the environment, ecosystems and human health.

The Memorandum will serve as an impetus for drawing attention to environmental protection and sustainable use of natural resources, which will allow expanding and strengthening relations between the two countries to contain and mitigate environmental impacts considering the need for timely response to and recovery from armed conflicts.

Guaranteed Buyer submitted the relevant proposals to the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Energy, Housing and Utilities. In a comment to the media, Guaranteed Buyer CEO Artem Nekrasov noted that the company's specialists worked actively on the draft amendments to the law in February together with the NEURC, Ukrenergo and members of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Energy and Utilities.

According to Nekrasov, the company expects that these amendments will soon be submitted to and adopted by the parliament and if the bill is adopted promptly, Guaranteed Buyer will be able to start exporting within a few months.

"The preparation of the secondary regulatory framework has also begun, but everyone is waiting for the final version of the bill. We hope that the Energy Committee, the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission and the government will make every effort to allow us to export green electricity to the EU as soon as possible. This is a real chance to help our country in such difficult times," said the Head of Guaranteed Buyer.

"Thanks to the heroic efforts of the Armed Forces and power engineers, our power system is withstanding enemy attacks, and repair and restoration work is proceeding at a record pace. For more than two weeks now, there has been no electricity shortage in the power system, and there have even been restrictions on generation from renewable sources."

The upcoming seasonal increase in renewable electricity generation, and a decrease in consumption due to warming, coupled with a significant drop in consumption in the country due to the war, will lead to a surplus of electricity in the system and a limitation of renewable generation.

Giving the Guaranteed Buyer the ability to export surplus electricity from renewable sources will help avoid generation restrictions that must be paid for by law and improve the liquidity of the electricity market. Adoption of the relevant amendments to the legislation will increase foreign currency revenues, which is crucial for supporting the country's economy during wartime.
 

The Ukrainian Parliament is currently preparing to consider two bills allowing residential and some non-residential buildings owners to install on their buildings solar and/or wind power generating facilities to reduce their monthly electric costs by sending excess energy back to the grid. Ukrainian law makers are going to consider both the net metering (the excessive volume of electricity will be credited on the special account of the prosumer and will be consumed in the future periods) and net billing mechanism (the excessive volume of electricity should be purchased by the off taker under market prices), and will support one of the suggested bills and decline the another.

According to the Net Metering Bill the value of electricity, produced and delivered to the grid by the prosumer, should be accumulated on the personal account of the such prosumer. The electricity supplier then will set off the value of the electricity consumed by such prosumer (considering the cost of electricity transmission and/or distribution services) against funds accumulated on the personal account. If the value of electricity consumed by the prosumer exceeds funds accumulated on the account, the prosumer should pay the difference. Funds, accumulated on the personal account, will expire in 12 months.

The Net Billing Bill stipulates that the value of electricity produced from renewables supplied to the electricity grid by generating units from active consumers and the cost of electricity consumed from the electricity grid (considering the cost of electricity transmission or distribution services) are to be off set. Then, the prosumer might be required to pay the value of electricity exceeding the value of consumed electricity, and vice versa, the supplier could be required to pay the prosumer for the amount of electricity delivered to the grid that exceeds the prosumer's consumption.

The Net Metering/Billing model foresees guaranteed purchase of the volume of electricity supplied by such active consumers based on a concluded power purchase agreement.

Net Metering/Billing to be available for:

• generating facilities of private households with an installed capacity - not exceeding 30 kW
• small non-households consumers with an installed capacity not exceeding 50 kW;
• generating facilities of other consumers, including energy cooperatives, with an installed capacity up to 500 kW.

Active consumers will enter into a self-generation electricity purchase and sale agreement with a universal service provider or electricity supplier. 

On February 13, 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine submitted to the Parliament a bill on the register of the guarantees of origin (the "GOs") of the electricity produced from renewable energy sources (RES).

The Draft Law stipulates that the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission (the “Regulator”) will be the authorized body to issue GOs.

"The Regulator possesses certain tools and powers at all stages of the "life cycle" of guarantees of origin - from registration of generating facilities to their circulation and disclosure of information to consumers about the origin of energy" -as the explanatory note to the bill states, that is an argument for the appointment of the Regulator as the issuing authority. 
The Regulator will issue electronic GOs on a free-of-charge basis. GOs will contain information about the renewable type, start and end date of the operating period, location of the energy source, date of issuing and origin country and the identification code.  

The validity period will be 12 months from the production date of the respective unit of energy and expire after its use or expiration, but no later than 18 months from the date of production. The GOs will expire prematurely if the power generation facility is excluded from the register of guarantees of origin. The GOs could be transferred to other subjects during the validity period.

The precise rules for issuing GOs are to be set out in the Procedure, which the Regulator should develop and approve after the bill becomes law.

As of March 9, 2023, the bill is under consideration by the Parliament committee, and the session for the consideration of the bill has not yet been scheduled.