Ukrainian Petrol Group bets on battery energy storage systems for its energy independence – founder
The UPG filling station chain aims to equip all of its filling stations with battery energy storage systems (BESS) to ensure energy independence, UPG founder Volodymyr Petrenko said.
"All our stations are equipped with generators, so we can operate 24/7, but we plan to scale up with battery energy storage systems so that all our filling stations will have such charging stations," Petrenko told Energy Reform on the sidelines of the Energy Finance forum organized by Oschadbank in Kyiv on Wednesday.
According to him, "solar panels are a good story, but today the price of electricity on the day-ahead market can be UAH 0.1/kWh, so the question arises as to why install them."
As reported, during the same event Petrenko said that he expects gasoline prices to rise by approximately UAH 4/liter starting from July 1, 2026, against the backdrop of the introduction of the mandatory requirement for 7-10% bioethanol content in gasoline from that date.
According to him, gasoline blended with 5% bioethanol (the requirement has been in force since May 1, 2025, but effectively on a voluntary basis for chains, ER) is UAH 2/liter more expensive than regular gasoline, and therefore the introduction of the 7-10% bioethanol requirement could add about UAH 4/liter to the price.
At the same forum, Oschadbank Sales Department Director Yuriy Voichak said that Oschadbank and the UPG filling station chain had signed a cooperation agreement providing for business lending on special terms for the purchase of motor fuel. According to him, the lending terms include an interest rate of 0.01% per annum (for the first four months, ER), a loan term of up to 12 months, no collateral requirement, and a maximum loan amount of up to UAH 20 mln.
UPG (Ukrainian Petrol Group) is a Ukrainian group of companies specializing in petroleum product trading. UPG is among the top three largest operators in Ukraine by number of stations. The group has its own logistics infrastructure and carries out direct fuel supplies from leading refineries in Europe and the United States.
