DFC Backs $185M Battery Storage Project to Shore Up Ukraine’s Grid

The US International Development Finance Corporation has committed up to $185 million to help build a large-scale battery energy storage system in Ukraine, marking what DTEK describes as the biggest DFC credit agreement in the country’s energy sector since the start of the full-scale war.

The project will deliver 200 MW of power capacity and 400 MWh of storage, spread across six separate sites. DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, will develop the infrastructure in partnership with Fluence, an American manufacturer of grid-scale storage systems. According to DFC, the installation will be able to supply roughly 600,000 households with electricity for a two-hour window — a meaningful buffer for a grid that has faced sustained attacks on generation and transmission assets.

The DFC board approved the deal on September 16 as part of a broader package of US support for Ukraine. On the same day, the corporation also greenlit up to $350 million for a modernisation of Vodafone Ukraine’s telecommunications network, aimed at building out a secure 5G infrastructure accessible to US companies operating in the country. Board members include Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

DFC is additionally a partner in the US-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund, whose first transaction supported Sine Engineering, a Ukrainian technology firm. The battery storage commitment reinforces a pattern of US capital targeting Ukraine’s energy resilience alongside broader economic recovery efforts.

Source: Бабель