Norway
Ukraine
Energy Community Secretariat – Ukraine Energy Support Fund: Call for Expression of Interest for De-risking Coverage for Ukrenergo Auction Winners
Background and Objective
The Energy Community Secretariat is launching a pilot phase for a new de-risking mechanism that supports the stability of the Ukrainian electricity grid.
For that purpose, EnCS has secured donor funding from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad). The goal of the pilot phase is to implement and operationalise the mechanism at a limited scale with a small number of energy projects which won in TSO Ukrenergo’s recent special long-term auctions for ancillary services (the Auctions).
The de-risking mechanism follows engagement Ukrainian banks and is designed to reduce the project owner’s financing burden and risk of war damages. It will include two components:
a) financing relief through a partial loan guarantee issued to the project’s financing bank
b) supply of passive protection equipment (PPE)1 to partially mitigate the impact of war-related attacks on their plants
The cost of the de-risking mechanism coverage will be borne by UESF and no fees will be charged to the project owners or their financing banks.
In order to benefit from the new de-risking mechanism, EnCS invites owners of eligible projects to participate in this call.
Please review the information below and express your interest by submitting the completed Applicant Questionnaire no later than the submission deadline of October 4 2026.
Based on the results of the pilot phase – and subject to donor funding – the de-risking mechanism may subsequently be expanded and/or applied to additional Ukrenergo auctions.
Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible for participation in the de-risking mechanism’s pilot phase, applicants must satisfy the following criteria:
- Auction winner status: the applicant (i.e. the project owner) must be a winner of Ukrenergo’s 2024 or 2025 special long-term auctions (the Auctions) for ancillary services and have subsequently signed the related offtake agreement with Ukrenergo.
- Bank financing: the applicant must have received (or have prepared to receive by Q3 2026) a loan for the project that won in the Auctions from one of Ukraine's Systemically Important Banks as per the decision of the National Bank of Ukraine: Рішення Правління Національного банку України від 17.06.2025 №198-рш "Про визначення системно важливих банків".
- Capacity of de-risking pilot phase: based on the available donor funds, the cumulated project capacity included in the pilot phase is expected to be no more than 10 MW.