Ukraine is looking to be part of Synchronous Area Continental Europe (CESA) as it carries various benefits for the Ukrainian electricity market and citizens of the country. Among others it allows Ukraine to tap into a highly competitive and liquid market which will assure through imports and exports that these competitive forces are brought to promote efficiency within the Ukrainian electricity market. The objective on future interconnection with CESA can only be achieved when Ukraine has fully and successfully introduced an electricity market reform. Independent of interconnection the transmission system efficiency generally needs to be improved. This Action will:
- support the development of the Ukrainian electricity market in line with the EU rules and standards;
- support the reform of Ukrenergo towards ensuring full compliance of its operational processes with the requirements for certified transmission system operators under the EU rules and standards;
- develop methodology to access the adequacy of infrastructure and to identify needed infrastructure investment in accordance with the EU acquis, best practices and standards;
- support the modernization of electricity transmission network in view of future aimed synchronization with CESA taking into account the network`s energy efficiency and integration potential for electricity produced from renewable energy sources;
- contribute in an increased impact of a new KfW-financed investment project as a light house project towards integration of Unified Power System of Ukraine with the European energy market and interconnection into CESA;
- support preparation of further investment projects to be financed in this reform context.

The main aim of the project is to provide the knowledge and methods required for future synchronisation of the Ukrainian electricity system with the continental European electricity system. Synchronisation was scheduled to take place towards the end of the year 2023, once the necessary skills had been acquired. However, the synchronisation took place ahead of schedule (16th of March 2022) and Ukrenergo acquired the skills after this synchronisation. The project consists of five lots, and the consultant provided the skills needed to operate the synchronised electrical systems under Lot 1. These skills are as follows:
- Energy efficiency related to the transmission network,
- Mid and long term adequacy mechanism,
- Development of a TSO market model,
- Ten year network development plan,
- Implementation of market related TSO process,
- Cost-benefit analysis for balancing capacity needs,
- Renewable energy generation forecasting,
- Project communication and visibility.

The results obtained for Lot 1 are as follows:
- Energy efficiency related to the transmission network: identification of measures to be implemented to reduce losses on the electricity transmission network and their respective effectiveness,
- Mid and long term adequacy mechanism: drafting of a methodology in line with entso-e requirements for studying different electricity demand scenarios and studies of different generation scenarios over a ten-year horizon,
- Development of a TSO market model: definition and construction of a model describing the Ukrainian electricity system in the Plexos software,
- Ten year network development plan: drafting of a methodology for studying a ten-year master plan in line with entso-e requirements. Purchase of a Power Factory licence,
- Implementation of market related TSO process: drafting of a methodology for calculating coordinated security analysis. Training using the Transmission Network Analyser software provided by EKC,
- Cost-benefit analysis for balancing capacity needs: definition of a methodology for calculating reserve requirements,
- Renewable energy generation forecasting: identification of the existing situation, definition of the requirements for calculating renewable energy generation forecasts and installation of forecast calculation software,
- Project communication and visibility: Distribution of a letter to stakeholders, but this was suspended at the beginning of 2022.
All the actions described above were the subject of regular meetings to present the work being carried out by the Consultant's experts, and workshops were organised during and at the end of the work to ensure the transfer of knowledge.