Six air-raid alerts on the first day, backup generators on almost every street corner, and discussions about the rapid reconstruction of severely damaged energy infrastructure: my trip to Kyiv and Lviv showed me why decentralized solar and energy storage are far more than climate technologies for Ukraine. They are part of the country’s security architecture. They also underscore why German solar companies should be engaging with Ukraine today.
When a train comes to a halt because of an air-raid alert and you suddenly find yourself wondering how safe the next few hours will be, many of the issues we discuss in the abstract back in Germany take on a different meaning.
From Aug. 18 to 20, 2026, I joined a German green-tech business delegation visiting Kyiv and Lviv. The delegation was led by Federal Minister Carsten Schneider and Sören Bartol, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building. BSW-Solar was represented by President Jörg Ebel, also representing IBC Solar; Olga Kovalchuk of Goldbeck Solar; and me, representing PMT. We met with representatives of the Ukrainian government, municipalities, businesses, and project partners. On the first day alone, there were six air-raid alerts.
