Science & Technology

The Renewable Energy Revolution Happening in Ukraine | Maxim Timchenko | TED

What’s it like keeping the lights on during war? Ukrainian energy executive Maxim Timchenko shares how his company has diversified Ukraine’s power structures to survive Russian attacks, highlighting the resilience of renewable energy. Hear more about Ukraine’s present-day challenges, how it’s become a testing ground in the global fight against climate change and the transformative…

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What’s it like keeping the lights on during war? Ukrainian energy executive Maxim Timchenko shares how his company has diversified Ukraine’s power structures to survive Russian attacks, highlighting the resilience of renewable energy. Hear more about Ukraine’s present-day challenges, how it’s become a testing ground in the global fight against climate change and the transformative path towards sustainable energy independence.

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49 Comments

  1. Ross Girven

    July 13, 2023 at 9:28 am

    What do we do with the old turbine blades?
    Current answer is landfill as we can’t easily recycle fibreglass and carbon fibre.

    What do we do with old solar panels?
    Currently landfill or ship to Africa as e-waste.
    We cannot easily recycle solar panels.
    Look into how they are recycled. In order to extract the metals, they are first shredded, then the plastics are “vaporised”. Where does that plastic go?

    I’m not saying green is inherently bad. It’s just not as good as some people like to make out.

    IMHO small nuclear plants is the way to go!

    • Ross Girven

      July 13, 2023 at 4:25 pm

      @Stephen Rowley can they? How much of a turbine is blade? 40-50% or more? Blades need to be replaced every 20 years or so. At a complete guesstimate a turbine will have 3 sets of blades in its lifetime. That’s a LOT of landfill.

    • Ross Girven

      July 13, 2023 at 4:35 pm

      @Stephen Rowley napkin maths time (I live in the uk so I’m using uk numbers)

      Current number of turbines in the uk: 11,500
      Number of blades total: 34,500
      Replaced yearly (20 year lifespan) : 1,725
      Average weight of blade: around 2,300kg
      Amount of fibreglass going to landfill per year: approx 3,960,000kg

      Just in the UK!

    • Ross Girven

      July 13, 2023 at 4:42 pm

      @DEEP philip the whole world is looking at this option.

    • Stephen Rowley

      July 13, 2023 at 5:12 pm

      @Ross Girven the vast amount of weight of turbine is the steel in the tower, and copper in the generator set. The blades are made from composites because their light.

    • Ross Girven

      July 13, 2023 at 5:35 pm

      @Stephen Rowley how much the turbine weighs is not the issue. Volume is the issue.

      What’s heavier, a ton of bricks or a ton of feathers?

      Try hiding a ton of feathers in landfill!

      That’s not even the real issue, the real issue is the simple fact that we are replacing tens of thousands of blades globally every year and have nowhere to put them all.

  2. Paul Andersen

    July 13, 2023 at 9:35 am

    This man need a bigger teleprompter

  3. Krunoslav Stifter

    July 13, 2023 at 9:37 am

    If you but that one, I got some safe and effective propaganda to sell you. Jeez.

  4. sasa gaming

    July 13, 2023 at 9:54 am

    I don’t really care about Ukraine or about your many electric scam

  5. Максим Москаленко

    July 13, 2023 at 10:00 am

    Ukraine needs more money?))) Or my god))) English and teleprompter so bad)))

  6. Aman Kr Sharma

    July 13, 2023 at 10:03 am

    We are not at war, we are trying to make things better

  7. Владимир Дьюков

    July 13, 2023 at 10:04 am

    Well, at first you should stop transporting dirty 🇷🇺 gas through your territory. 😂

    • trader2137

      July 13, 2023 at 3:58 pm

      that is win-win-win scenario for every party involved, stop being ignorant

  8. Hector Roldan

    July 13, 2023 at 10:25 am

    I’d love to see tube blimps that have soft turbines to spin inside that also utilize solar fabric technology where the blimp can also spin and generate electricity and can be lowered back into the ground station for repairs and upgrades on top of keeping them safe. It would also making working on them safer since people can have them contained instead of having to travel so high up for servicing. At some point, they might even have the ability to have Massive Capacitors under the ground stations to collect Lightning Energy. Could be epic if it were possible~

  9. Z1BABOUINOS

    July 13, 2023 at 10:43 am

    Very close friend of Klaus Schwab.
    That’s all you need to know….
    Slava Baklava! ✌👴💤

  10. Maksym Ponomarchuk

    July 13, 2023 at 11:21 am

    Think future and quit propaganda.🇺🇦
    Stop exploiting our land! Get rid of oligarchs and their influence through crooked politicians on all aspects of people’s life!
    We’re tangled in a vicious circle of endless lies.
    That is why war is here. Enemy gnaws us from inside. External foes used it and invaded.
    Let us see the real way to freedom and independance 💪🙏💙💛
    Sun 🌞, wind 💨 and water 💦 are surely our friends, but don’t overestimate their power now.

  11. Akira

    July 13, 2023 at 12:01 pm

    Blah blah blah blah

  12. Alex 911

    July 13, 2023 at 12:10 pm

    You are fighting not for survival, but for future of your elites.

    • trader2137

      July 13, 2023 at 3:58 pm

      and survival of ordinary people, you ignorant.

    • Vlada2700

      July 14, 2023 at 3:20 am

      Mmm, great. Russia is trying to kill me every day. Just imagine going up to the 14th floor in winter. Days without water, network. It is so funny to see people talking staff about our greif, you can come and try to be the target.

  13. 2strokeboy

    July 13, 2023 at 12:49 pm

    just get out of there, why even make people work there and rebuild when war is going on…. tired of this

    • VoltisArt

      July 13, 2023 at 8:43 pm

      ^Said no one who ever had their home invaded.

      You must live a very comfortable life.

    • 2strokeboy

      July 14, 2023 at 2:41 am

      @VoltisArt its true, i am just breaking under the weight of this mess. just get out

  14. miki miki

    July 13, 2023 at 1:04 pm

    These are the oligarchs who parasitize in Ukraine. Don’t trust them! One of the schemes is the so-called “green tariff”. They have set up huge fields of panels and are simply milking the state budget so that the state obligated to buy green energy from them at inflated tariffs (Roterdam+). That is, it did not work to subsidize ordinary people and private households. This deal was organized by Akhmetov (energy monopolist) and the previous president, also an oligarch Poroshenko, for the godless pumping out of the state budget. Ukraine has exported energy because it has a lot of nuclear reactors (now in occupation). Green energy has nothing to do with it. It’s just a lie. Ukraine was just beginning to get rid of these parasites, so Russia immediately invaded. Help us win and we will finish what we started.

  15. Austin Denotter

    July 13, 2023 at 1:06 pm

    Tailspin continues for ted

  16. Orangeman on steroids

    July 13, 2023 at 1:41 pm

    First off global warming does not exist.
    And c02 is good for plants and life.
    Second you will never get rid of fossil fuels in fact the cheaper you make electricity the easier it C will be to make gasoline out of thin air.
    Third we are destroying the earth by using solar panels and wind turbines when we should be using nuclear. It’s safe and sustainable.

  17. Jim Panse

    July 13, 2023 at 2:07 pm

    So basically, he wants money? Thanks for giving him a platform

    • Leo A

      July 13, 2023 at 4:56 pm

      ukrainians always want money

  18. WipeBOT

    July 13, 2023 at 2:19 pm

    Your country is not fighting a war. Ukraine was most corrupt country in the world in 2018. And likely still has that title now. You couldn’t run a restaurant without thugs coming for money monthly.

  19. R. A.

    July 13, 2023 at 2:44 pm

    Bloody propaganda. Try relying on solar and wind during winters and let’s see how that goes. They are both intermittent energy sources that are dependent on sunlight and wind and lots of storage. How green are all the materials used to manufacture the solar panels & wind mills and how are they disposed of after they reach the end of their life cycle? Also they require a lot of storage capacity, how green are all the materials used for storing the generated energy?

  20. Kismat★قسمات

    July 13, 2023 at 3:22 pm

    TED 😊
    Thank you—for contribution!
    شكراً للمساهمة
    😊
    🙏🏻

  21. Kismat★قسمات

    July 13, 2023 at 3:24 pm

    TED 😊

    “I hope we can fill each of our days to the brim with positive energy. We thought the world had stopped, but it continues to move forward”
    😊
    🙏🏻

  22. Kismat★قسمات

    July 13, 2023 at 3:26 pm

    🦋Knowing a person is like music, what attracts us to them is their melody, and as we get to know who they are, we learn their lyrics!

  23. Leo A

    July 13, 2023 at 4:53 pm

    2:58 It’s becoming a testing ground alright 😅

  24. james de

    July 13, 2023 at 5:24 pm

    stop puting kids to the world and the climate problemn will dissapear and pulution to. why does some countries think they can do what they want?

  25. Danil Merkurev

    July 13, 2023 at 11:33 pm

    Just a stupid propaganda. NATO invite Ukraine. By this reason we have war

  26. Praveen Munda

    July 13, 2023 at 11:35 pm

    Those who started Crude Oil War Now teaching not to use it. What a great world. 😑😑🤔😑

  27. Paul Aeschbacher

    July 14, 2023 at 12:12 am

    Ukraine will come back greener and better than ever. 💙🇺🇦💛

  28. Kong Kong

    July 14, 2023 at 1:49 am

    good to see ted playing his part in pro-ukr feel good propaganda

  29. Clive Engel

    July 14, 2023 at 2:49 am

    To late now for reversible change – you guys were sleeping for 25 years – adapt or move.

  30. eegor922

    July 14, 2023 at 3:51 am

    Ой барцуны, какие нарративы то, Россия такая ужасная, десятилетиями бесчеловечно поставляла энергоресурсы по низким ценам, как они вообще посмели

  31. Kismat★قسمات

    July 14, 2023 at 4:29 am

    TED 😊
    Our promise still stands, connecting minds, creating the future
    😊
    🙏🏻

  32. Duck

    July 14, 2023 at 4:48 am

    Слава украине🇺🇦

  33. RedLineHealth

    July 14, 2023 at 7:19 am

    It’s ALWAYS been about OIL….

  34. Keralina Study Hacks

    July 15, 2023 at 2:28 pm

    Grateful for DTEK’s job. My bf used to work there as a miner. However, he’s not able to work there due to cancer, but still we respect and appreciate DTEK. Believe in your power! Wish you rebuild and double your capabilities as soon as it possible💙💛Героям слава!

  35. Nord Sued-Gefaelle (Nord-Sued-Gefaelle)

    July 15, 2023 at 4:34 pm

    Ukraine has earned its place in Europe by enduring the Maidan Revolution. (See: Winter on fire on youtube). What we have to go through now is tough, but i have no doubt we will prevail. Corruption is the third plague and could be a showstopper. So keep that in mind. Lets make our kids proud of us instead cursing us. You are on a promising path.

  36. MiPad6

    July 17, 2023 at 12:42 am

    Россия виновата что поставляла не дорогие энергоносители))))

  37. Angela Sealana

    July 18, 2023 at 8:44 am

    Yet another reason to go green.

  38. Dona Domino

    July 19, 2023 at 10:42 pm

    makasih infonyaaa!!

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