Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in autumn 2025 have become systematic and highly targeted: the attacks focus primarily on substations, heat generation facilities and high-voltage lines that guarantee power output. In major cities this already leads to prolonged outages, drops in force within territory heating systems, and disruptions to water supply. The Ukrenergo CEO Vitalii Zaichenko describes this strategy as “scorched earth” — strikes designed to disable facilities entirely alternatively than temporarily.
Against the backdrop of systemic attacks, experts increasingly emphasize the request for a network of decentralized generation sources capable of operating independently of the transmission grid. These are primarily mobile and modular cogeneration units that make local points of supply — alleged “energy islands” for hospitals, water utilities, heating sites and industrial facilities.
Sviatoslav Pavliuk, the Executive manager of the Association of Energy Efficient Cities of Ukraine, notes that in situations of network harm it is cogeneration that can reliably support the operation of large pumps and heating systems — something diesel generators cannot achieve. The Analyst Hennadii Riabtsev adds that flexible sources of generation have ceased to be a “reserve” and have become an component of energy defence.
Ukraine has effectively become a investigating grounds for the fast deployment of specified solutions. Interest in industrial cogeneration modules and microgeneration is increasing beyond Ukraine — European regulators are studying the country’s experience as a model of resilience for the EU’s future energy policy.
Technological essence of cogeneration: how the technology works
Cogeneration is the simultaneous production of electricity and heat from a single fuel source. Unlike conventional generation — where heat is wasted — cogeneration systems capture this thermal energy through heat exchangers and reuse it for territory heating, hot water or industrial processes. As a result, full efficiency reaches 85 to 92 per cent, which compares to little than 40 per cent at conventional power plants.
A gas engine or turbine produces electricity while the excess heat is returned to the system. Modern systems can work either in parallel with the grid or autonomously — in alleged “island mode”. The second mode enables critical facilities to keep operating even during a complete blackout.
Cogeneration under wartime conditions: why the technology became critical
During Russia’s mass attacks, localized network ruptures frequently isolate districts regardless of available generation. This is why cogeneration modules have become the backbone for creating “energy islands” — autonomous supply points for hospitals, water utilities, heating facilities and industrial plants.
According to government data as of November 2025, the territory heating sector already operates 182 cogeneration units (83 in full operation) with a combined capacity of 147.3 MW, along with 239 block-modular boilers (about 635 MW). Through global aid programmes, communities have received more than 90 modular units (50+ MW). The Kyiv and Cherkasy regions are leading in the deployment of local generation.
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Analytical assessments by the Ministry of Energy indicate that, in the average term, Ukraine requires about 2.2 GW of fresh flexible generation and around 1.5 GW of retention systems to stabilize the grid. This is the minimum needed to supply flexibility between highest loads, emergency conditions, and fast recovery after attacks.
However, the global Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts a importantly larger structural deficit — up to six GW during highest winter periods. This reflects not only the request for flexible sources but the cumulative failure of generating capacity due to destroyed TPPs and CHPs that cannot be rapidly restored.
In these conditions, cogeneration does not replace large power plants but covers the most susceptible section of the deficit — local and technological. Modular systems can reconstruct the operation of critical facilities within days, creating microgrids where transmission lines have been destroyed. Thus, the network of mobile and containerized sources becomes not an alternate to large plants but essential infrastructure that allows the country to keep basic services under attack.
Market architecture: players and roles
Ukraine’s cogeneration sector in 2025 has become 1 of the most dynamic parts of the energy system. Its growth is driven not by individual firms but by an full ecosystem of players — integrators, developers, engine manufacturers and global donors working together to close the deficit of flexible generation.
- Developers and producers of local energy facilities
These are companies that make and run their own stations on biogas, biomass or gas, supplying communities with heat and electricity within “energy islands”. Examples include Clear Energy, Ekotechnika and multiple regional bioenergy firms. - Global technology suppliers (OEMs)
Ukraine relies on engines and turbines from global manufacturers specified as MWM/Caterpillar, Jenbacher, Wärtsilä and Siemens Energy. Their platforms supply advanced efficiency, low emissions and the ability to work autonomously. Based on these OEM engines, integrators assemble backup complexes for heating, water utilities and industry. - International donors and financial institutions
The large-scale deployment of mobile generation would be impossible without donor support. Through USAID, EBRD, NEFCO, the EU Energy Support Fund, and assistance from Denmark, Germany and Sweden, more than 200 generation modules — from 250 kW to 2.5 MW — have been imported over the past 2 years. - Integrators and EPC companies
Ukrainian engineering teams have become central to the improvement of mobile generation. They adapt global OEM platforms to wartime conditions, plan backup schemes, and integrate modules into territory heating, hospitals, water utilities and critical facilities. Key players include KTS Engineering, Volts Energy, Energy Save, Interautomatika, TEDOM-Ukraine, and BlastCat (DTEK Innovation Hub).
A distinct place in this group belongs to RSE s.r.o. Unlike classical integrators, RSE combines EPC capability with a full engineering-production cycle: it designs modular systems, containerizes MWM/Caterpillar engines, and builds trigeneration complexes and industrial heat pumps. In terms of scale and installation speed, RSE has become 1 of the strongest integrators in Ukraine and Central and east Europe.
RSE s.r.o.: engineering resilience
The company’s fundamental rule is full mill assembly. All modules are built, tested and configured at the plant, arriving to customers as ready-to-operate systems. This reduces installation time to 72 hours.
RSE’s early installations in 2023 — at sites in Kharkiv, Kyiv and Dnipro — defined the company’s engineering philosophy: reinforced containers, duplicated cable routes, enhanced protection against shrapnel damage, expanded safety protocols and unchangeable off-grid operation. These wartime requirements shaped today’s plan standards.
RSE modules operate in 3 modes: parallel, autonomous and island. Island mode makes it possible to make microgrids for hospitals, water utilities, heating sites, municipal enterprises and manufacture — where restoring transmission lines may take days or weeks. This approach is now in request not only in Ukraine but besides in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
A key component of RSE’s technology is its proprietary oil-free turbo-modules that run on propane — universal modules that integrate with any cogeneration system. They usage the engine’s waste heat to rise the temperature of the heat carrier, bringing overall strategy efficiency above 95 per cent in low-temperature networks.
In November 2025, the company presented its flagship trigeneration complex — the Modular Power Plant — at the MWM Energy Days in Mannheim. Based on the MWM TCG 2032 engine with a capacity of 4.5 MW, the unit can produce electricity, heat and cool, start without a grid, and make autonomous “energy islands” for municipal and industrial systems.
RSE s.r.o. partners with Caterpillar Energy Solutions (MWM), the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and GIZ to jointly make training programmes, engineer preparation, and modern decentralized energy solutions.
Scaling flexible Ukrainian solutions to the European market
Ukrainian modular technologies, developed under wartime pressure, offer Europe a applicable model of infrastructural resilience — suited to cyberattacks, energy blackmail and network instability. The European system, dependent on large generation nodes and long transmission corridors, is increasingly showing its vulnerabilities.
Ukraine’s practice of deploying modules not in months but in days is already being studied in European civil-protection planning. ENTSO-E and national regulators are analyzing how to incorporate this experience into consequence standards.
Ultimately, Ukraine’s experience is shaping a fresh logic for European energy security: multiple sources, autonomy, fast resilience and preparedness for crisis scenarios are parameters that will find the sustainability of European infrastructure for decades to come.
Yuliia Valova is simply a writer and analyst covering Ukraine for global media, including Tagesspiegel and Emerging Europe. She specializes in energy, economics, politics, and the impact of the Russian war on Ukrainian society and infrastructure. She has over 20 years of experience in media: previously served as Editor-in-Chief of Intelmag, led major public and communication projects, conducted investigative reporting, and worked with experts, editors, and analysts. Earlier, she was an advisor to a associate of Parliament in the Verkhovna Rada and managed projects in PR, culture, and the publishing sector.
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