When Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, solar and storage stopped being simply “green technologies.” They became tools for survival. That reality shaped the creation of the Energy Act for Ukraine Foundation back in April 2022
In Ukraine today, energy is no longer only about decarbonisation or market transformation. It is about whether a hospital can continue operating during missile attacks, whether children can continue learning during blackouts, and whether communities can maintain access to heating, communication, and basic human dignity when the grid collapses.
I have seen firsthand how decentralized energy systems can become the difference between complete shutdown and some sense of continuity. During some of the attacks last winter, blackouts lasted anywhere from three to five consecutive days. In those moments, solar and storage systems allowed hospitals to keep operating, schools to stay open, and communities to maintain at least some stable access to electricity and heating. In many places across Ukraine, decentralized energy became the difference between fear and resilience.
The creation of the NGO Energy Act for Ukraine Foundation was driven solely by the purpose of being there for people who stayed in Ukraine when the war started, and doing what I knew how to do best, building solar power plants for people, especially for public buildings.
Protecting critical infrastructure during war
Our programme “100 Solar Schools” and “50 Solar Hospitals” combine humanitarian support with long-term energy independence. Since 2022, around 70% of Ukraine’s power generation capacity has been damaged or destroyed, particularly in frontline regions where attacks on energy and water systems became part of the strategy to occupy territory. Across many cities and villages, interruptions to electricity supply became part of daily life.
Under these conditions, decentralized renewable energy is not theoretical anymore. Solar panels and battery storage are practical infrastructure for resilience. They are relatively fast to deploy, do not require fuel supply chains, and can provide electricity exactly where it is needed most: hospitals, schools, administrative buildings, and community centers.
Sometimes, one school equipped with a solar power plant becomes the only place with electricity access for an entire community. One of the projects closest to my heart is the solar power system installed on the rooftop of the Odesa Perinatal Center. This is a place where babies weighing as little as 700 grams are fighting for their lives. Life-support systems in neonatal intensive care units cannot stop functioning, even for a moment.
But in Ukraine, blackouts can last not only hours, but several consecutive days. That is why renewable energy in critical infrastructure is no longer simply about decarbonisation. It is about ensuring people have access to basic care, medical services, and survival itself.
What the war is teaching us about energy security
In many ways, Ukraine has become a real-time lesson in the connection between energy security and energy independence. Before the war, globalization encouraged countries to rely on competitive advantage and global interconnected systems. But the war shifted the focus toward localization and reduced dependence on stronger partners who may eventually use that dependence against you.
The same applies to energy. Today, countries need to ask themselves a very direct question: can we guarantee electricity supply to our people if we cannot rely on anybody else anymore?
For me, several lessons from Ukraine are already very clear. First, countries need to help people take responsibility for their own energy resilience and create environments where communities want to participate in building that resilience. Second, the more sources of energy a country has internally, the stronger it becomes. Third, critical industrial facilities and infrastructure must have multiple electricity supply options. Redundancy is no longer inefficiency; it is security.
The war also taught us that grids must evolve as fast as decentralized energy deployment itself. Spare equipment, repair systems, and storage capacity are no longer secondary operational concerns. They are strategic necessities. We also learned that critical infrastructure cannot always be protected through traditional approaches. Wherever possible, energy infrastructure should be built underground and equipped with strong protection systems against missile attacks.
The people behind energy resilience
But perhaps one of the most important lessons is about people. Engineers and electricians became some of the most valuable human capital during wartime. These professionals need resources, support, international exposure, and opportunities to learn from other countries and energy systems so they can respond to crises that no textbook could have predicted. The energy transition is ultimately not only about infrastructure. It is about people.
That understanding also shaped one of our most important initiatives at the Foundation: Solar Step. The war created an enormous workforce crisis in Ukraine. More than 5.6 million Ukrainians remain abroad, while almost three-quarters of employers report shortages of qualified workers. Sectors traditionally dominated by male workers were particularly affected as many men joined the army from the first days of the war.
Opening pathways for women in energy
At the same time, the gender imbalance in the energy sector already existed before the invasion. According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2023, women represent only around 31% of the workforce in energy companies globally, and Ukraine reflected a similar trend. In 2023, we understood there would be growing demand for practical ways to include women in the renewable energy sector.
That is why we created Solar Step, a free four-month educational programme focused on solar power plant project management, leadership, and women’s empowerment. In simple terms, we teach women how to become the “brain” behind solar power plant construction projects: how to coordinate, organize, and manage projects from the ground up. We deliberately designed the programme to provide versatile professional skills because strong project management is essential in every sector.
Most importantly, Solar Step was designed to support women facing extremely difficult life circumstances: internally displaced women, veterans, wives of fallen soldiers, and women rebuilding their lives during the war. A few months ago, we completed the first cohort. Fifty-one women graduated, and five of them received job offers before even completing the programme.
For many Ukrainians, the war meant starting life from zero again. As long as the war continues, people continue being displaced, rebuilding, and living through loss. We wanted Solar Step to become a real opportunity, a “happy ticket” for someone who urgently needed one.
Women leading communities through crisis
At the same time, I have witnessed how women across Ukraine stepped into visible and practical leadership roles throughout this crisis. Their leadership appears everywhere: in schools, where women support children emotionally through uncertainty; in hospitals, where doctors continue working under attacks; in communities, where women hold families and neighbourhoods together while continuing to work, organise, and support others.
Even within our own Foundation, we now have women who entered the energy sector with absolutely no previous experience after the full-scale invasion began and who today successfully lead solar power plant construction projects. We need to empower women not only through words, but by example and by creating clear pathways into the energy sector. Because Ukraine’s future energy system is about people, decision-making, trust, and community engagement. Women are already proving they are essential to that transformation.
Leadership, purpose, and resilience
Personally, this journey transformed me as well. It is often said that true character appears during crisis. I believe I discovered my true nature after the war began. I found a purpose that helped me move through the shock and uncertainty. When life itself was under threat, I redefined myself and found a new meaning in life.
For me, leadership has no gender. Leadership is hard work and responsibility. It appears when someone has a vision, truly loves that vision, and can inspire others to move forward together. I think I was always strong in vision and passion, but I had to learn the difficult way how to manage people. Honestly, I would still describe that as one of my weak points.
The experience also taught me several personal lessons. Leadership requires energy. You must learn how to take care of yourself because your team reflects your emotional state. Sometimes there is no time to think twice. If you see an opportunity and feel deeply that it is yours, you need to step forward and take the risk.
I also learned that hard work is rewarded in unexpected ways. And when those moments arrive, you know they matter. Most importantly, I learned not to forget to live while pursuing your dream. Be grateful to yourself and your team for continuing the journey together. Live the moment.
Why the human dimension matters
Too often, discussions around renewable energy focus exclusively on technology and infrastructure while ignoring the human dimension behind the transition. But sustainable energy systems are built through trust, participation, and community ownership.
I believe the sustainable energy future will be built when people are not only consumers of energy, but active participants in their own energy independence. The more communities understand energy, the more local professionals are trained, and the more people feel responsible for their own resilience, the stronger the whole country becomes.
Rebuilding Ukraine as a resilient energy partner
That is why Europe’s solar and renewable energy industries can play such an important role in supporting Ukraine. Ukraine does not simply need to rebuild the centralized energy system it inherited. The war showed us how vulnerable large centralized assets become when they are strategic targets. Rebuilding must become transformation.
That transformation means decentralized solar power plants, battery storage, smart grids, local generation systems, stronger distribution networks, and infrastructure capable of functioning even during attacks and blackouts. European companies can support Ukraine not only through solidarity statements but through practical collaboration: providing reliable technology, storage systems, transformers, monitoring tools, spare parts, and engineering expertise adapted to wartime realities.
Ukraine also needs technical knowledge, grid integration expertise, and long-term partnerships with organizations already working on the ground. Most importantly, Europe must invest in people. The energy transition cannot happen without skilled professionals, education, reskilling initiatives, women’s inclusion, and practical training for engineers, electricians, and project managers. If communities can understand, operate, and maintain their own systems, the infrastructure becomes truly sustainable.
And I believe Europe should not see Ukraine only as a humanitarian case. Ukraine can become a real resilience lessons for Europe. What we are learning under extreme conditions can strengthen energy security across the entire continent.
That is why my message is simple: work with Ukraine, invest in Ukraine, and start building projects here. Because investing in Ukraine means investing in the future security of Europe itself.
Redefining sustainability after war
The war has also changed my understanding of sustainability. Today, for me, sustainability means “making no harm.” Ukraine has experienced such deep grief and cruelty that everything we build moving forward must be viewed through the principle of causing no further harm: to people, nature, or animals.
At the same time, I believe Ukraine now has an opportunity to dismantle outdated systems shaped by corruption, bureaucracy, and old Soviet-era structures and replace them with new systems built around sustainability, resilience, and people-centered development. Perhaps that is one of the most important lessons this war has taught us. The future of energy is not only about power generation. It is about protecting life with people at the center.
Yuliana Onishchuk is a Ukrainian renewable energy leader and Founder & CEO of Energy Act for Ukraine Foundation. With a background in energy law, reform, and solar project development, she works at the intersection of energy security, wartime resilience, and sustainable reconstruction. Since 2022, Yuliana has led the Foundation’s work to equip schools, hospitals, water utilities, and community facilities across Ukraine with hybrid solar and battery storage systems. Her work demonstrates how renewable energy can protect critical public services, strengthen communities, and help Ukraine move toward a more decentralised and resilient energy future. She is also an advocate for women’s participation in the renewable energy sector, creating educational pathways that help women enter clean energy and contribute to Ukraine’s reconstruction.
Interested in joining Yuliana Onishchuk and other women industry leaders and experts at Women in Solar+ Europe? Find out more: www.wiseu.network
Interested in finding out how you can support The Energy Act for Ukraine Foundation? Visit https://www.energyactua.com/
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