On 22 May 2019, Ukraine adopted the law 2712-VIII “on promotion of competitive conditions for producing electric power from alternative energy sources” (IMEPOWER 2019; IEA 2019b), thus introducing auctions as the main instrument for the support of electricity from renewable energy sources (RES). Increasing support expenditures in the previous RES support scheme that was based on (high) administratively-set feed-in tariffs (FITs), as well as obligations/propositions by EU legislation were the main motivations for switching to the new auction-based support scheme. Although a first pilot auction could have been conducted in 2019, the newly elected government in Ukraine did not hold any auctions so far, due to ongoing negotiations on possible cuts on the level of the already allocated feed-in tariffs. These negotiations ended with the adoption of Law 810-IX (former Draft Law 3658), “on Amending Certain Laws of Ukraine to Improve Support of the Production of Electric Power from Renewable Energy Sources” (UWEA 2020; IMEPOWER 2020), that indeed implemented those (retroactive) cuts, among other provisions. Now, the first auctions are expected to be conducted in 2021.

Nevertheless, it is worthwhile looking into the Ukrainian auction scheme and providing a first analysis based on the proposed design elements 1 . The remaining of this case study is structured as follows. Chapter 2 provides an overview on the overall electricity sector and the role of RES in Ukraine. Chapter 3 gives an overview of the preceding administratively-set feed-in tariff scheme. Chapter 4 describes and analyses the proposed RES auction scheme, while chapter 5 provides conclusions.

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