Rebuilding Resilience: Ukraine’s Path to Financeable Energy and Municipal Infrastructure

LUCC Energy Infrastructure and Municipal Resilience Committee brings together Ukrainian and European experts to examine how to turn identified infrastructure needs into completed, financeable projects

Ukraine’s infrastructure challenge cannot be solved by financing alone. That was the central conclusion of the Energy Infrastructure and Municipal Resilience Committee of the LUCC Advisory Platform, convened by the Luxembourg-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce (LUCC) on 9 September.

Bringing together technical experts, project developers and Luxembourg-based partners, the discussion examined how Ukraine’s identified infrastructure needs can move from concept to completed, financeable projects — and how physical security, cybersecurity and supply-chain resilience factor into investor confidence.

Financing is increasing. The challenge is delivery.

European support for Ukraine’s municipal and energy infrastructure continues to expand. In September, the European Union announced a €30 million grant for frontline communities, complementing €200 million in EIB financing for municipal heating, energy-efficiency and renewable-energy projects. The wider EU energy-security effort now exceeds €4 billion since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

The Committee’s discussion therefore focused on a critical implementation question: how can available financing be converted into completed infrastructure?

Participants identified project preparation, municipal capacity, reliable data, procurement, borrowing procedures, physical and cyber resilience and risk allocation as decisive factors in whether projects move from concept to implementation.

“The challenge is no longer simply to identify Ukraine’s infrastructure needs. We know many of them. The challenge is to turn those needs into projects that can actually be prepared, financed, procured and delivered. Luxembourg can help connect credible Ukrainian projects with the financial, technical and institutional expertise needed to move them from priority lists to implementation,” said Evgenia Paliy, President of the Luxembourg-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce.

Vitaliy Radchenko, Managing Partner and Head of the Energy & Projects practice at CMS Ukraine, who moderated the session, presented material from Ukraine’s transmission system operator on infrastructure damage, system needs and opportunities in distributed generation, including flexible gas-fired generation, biomass and biofuel projects, storage, wind and solar paired with batteries.

“Damage to large centralised generation assets has wider effects across the electricity system, reinforcing the case for smaller, more distributed capacity located close to demand,” the session heard.

Selection for financing does not guarantee completion

Danylo Moiseienko, Founder-Analyst for Energy Cooperation with Ukraine at Forum Energii, presented research on the renovation of municipal public buildings, distinguishing the overall financing shortfall from the capacity gap that limits the use of financing already available. Projects can stall at any stage — planning, data collection, energy audits, feasibility work, borrowing approval, procurement or construction.

• Municipal energy plans, building inventories and reliable consumption data are necessary to identify priorities.
• Smaller municipalities may need grant-funded preparation, simplified procedures and regional technical support.
• Grouping smaller projects into portfolios could lower preparation costs and improve their attractiveness to financiers.

Security has to be assessed together, not separately

Jean Philippe Boever, Angel Investor and Chief Strategist for Sales & Marketing at GridCop, addressed physical security, cyber risk, human-factor vulnerabilities and layered monitoring of critical infrastructure, stressing a defence-in-depth approach: buried, fenced, encrypted or accesscontrolled infrastructure is not automatically secure.

“Physical protection, cyber controls, trained personnel, operational procedures and continuous monitoring must work together,” Boever said.

Because electricity, water, heating, telecommunications, transport and sewage systems depend on one another, an incident affecting one operator can create consequences across several services.

A coordinated delivery model

Adrian Pawelec, Partner & Head of Legal at Marguerite, shared experience from renewable energy, battery, renovation and infrastructure investment, referring to Italian building-efficiency and publiclighting programmes as possible reference points for Ukraine. Martin Boehm, Senior Advisor to the Board of LUCC, highlighted the need for intermediaries or project-development teams that can connect municipalities, projects and financing institutions.

Participants supported a coordinated model in which municipalities define priorities and maintain data, national authorities set standards, regional organisations prepare and group projects, financial partners reduce preparation and borrowing risk, and private companies deliver through transparent procurement.

From needs to implementation

Closing the session, Evgenia Paliy reiterated Luxembourg’s readiness to help connect credible Ukrainian projects with relevant financial, technical and institutional expertise, and to work through the LUCC Advisory Platform to build the pipeline of projects that can absorb the financing already being made available.

The discussion produced a clear conclusion:

More financing is required, but project preparation and delivery capacity will determine whether capital results in completed infrastructure.

For LUCC, the next steps include exploring Luxembourg–Ukraine municipal cooperation, assessing support for a structured overview of Ukrainian municipalities’ infrastructure needs, and identifying technical advisers, project developers, energy service companies, lenders and preparation specialists who can be matched with municipal projects. The meeting formed part of the LUCC Advisory Platform, which brings together business leaders, institutions and experts through specialised committees addressing the practical conditions for stronger Luxembourg–Ukraine and European–Ukrainian economic cooperation.

ABOUT LUCC

The Luxembourg-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce (LUCC) connects Ukrainian and Luxembourg businesses, institutions and professionals and supports Ukraine’s economic integration with Europe.

Through its Advisory Platform, business forums, executive dialogues and other initiatives, LUCC brings together decision-makers and expertise around the practical challenges of investment, market access and cross-border cooperation.