h.ua

Published · Updated

U.S. development finance agency approves €85 million loan to DTEK for battery storage in Ukraine

The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has approved a €85 million loan (about $97.5 million) for DTEK, Ukraine's largest private energy company, to expand battery energy storage capacity. The deal is part of a broader $8 billion DFC investment package covering Ukraine, Jordan and several African countries, and is described as one of the largest corporate debt deals in Ukraine and the largest in its energy sector since Russia's full-scale invasion began in 2022.

Key points

  • DFC approved a €85 million loan (approximately $97.5 million) for DTEK to expand battery energy storage capacity in Ukraine.
  • The loan is part of an $8 billion DFC investment package covering Ukraine, Jordan, and African countries.
  • The deal is described as one of the largest corporate debt deals for Ukraine overall and the largest in its energy sector since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.
  • DTEK is building a 200 MW / 400 MWh storage system with U.S. firm Fluence's GridStack technology, sufficient to power about 600,000 households for two hours.
  • Six earlier Fluence GridStack storage systems totaling 400 MWh are already connected to the grid in Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, commissioned in September 2025 after six months of construction.
  • DTEK is Ukraine's largest private energy company, owned by Rinat Akhmetov through SCM Holdings, founded in 2005 and headquartered in Kyiv.
  • The $8 billion package also includes financing for Vodafone Ukraine and DFC's largest-ever digital infrastructure investment in Africa (WIOCC, up to $155 million).

Why it matters

The loan is significant both as a financial milestone and as a step in shoring up Ukraine's battered energy infrastructure. It ranks among the largest corporate debt deals in Ukraine and the biggest in the country's energy sector since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, and it channels that capital directly into grid-scale battery storage — technology that can balance fluctuations and respond to grid disturbances within milliseconds. The fact that DFC's CEO cited authorization from President Donald Trump also underlines continued U.S. government backing for Ukraine's private energy sector. Beyond energy, the loan is one piece of a much larger $8 billion DFC package touching Ukrainian telecoms, Jordanian desalination and African digital infrastructure.

What happened

The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) approved a €85 million loan — roughly $97.5 million — for DTEK, Ukraine's largest private energy company, to expand battery energy storage capacity in Ukraine. The financing is part of an $8 billion investment package approved by DFC's board covering projects in Ukraine, Jordan and African countries. Under the deal, DTEK is building a 200 MW / 400 MWh storage system using Fluence GridStack technology supplied by the U.S. company Fluence; the system is sized to power approximately 600,000 households for two hours. Six earlier Fluence GridStack storage systems with a combined 400 MWh of capacity were already commissioned in September 2025 after six months of construction and are operating at sites in Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. DTEK CEO Maksym Tymchenko said the loan will free up additional funds for more storage and other projects, while DFC CEO Ben Black said U.S. President Donald Trump authorized the investment. The wider $8 billion DFC package also includes financing for Vodafone Ukraine to modernize telecoms infrastructure, a loan to support a seawater desalination plant in Jordan, and an investment of up to $155 million in African digital infrastructure operator WIOCC — DFC's largest digital investment to date.

How Ukrainian sources describe it

Ukrainian-language coverage foregrounds DTEK's role as Ukraine's largest private energy investor and frames the DFC loan as a boost to national energy security and grid resilience. Reporting highlights DTEK's prior partnership with U.S. firm Fluence on six storage systems already operating in Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, and casts the new €85 million loan as a continuation of that cooperation. Ukrainian outlets also situate the deal within DTEK's broader partnership pipeline, including the June memorandum of understanding with GE Vernova at URC 2026 in Gdańsk — signed in the presence of First Deputy Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and covering a 650 MW combined-cycle gas turbine plant at the Burshtyn site — and the unanimous U.S. appeals court ruling confirming U.S. jurisdiction over an arbitral award of more than $300 million tied to DTEK assets seized by Russia in occupied Crimea.

Where reporting differs

Some sources describe the DFC–DTEK transaction as a signed debt agreement, while others describe DFC as having approved a €85 million loan; the available reporting does not make clear whether the signing or the approval is the most recent event.

Background

DFC is a U.S. government development finance institution created in 2019 under the BUILD Act on the basis of OPIC and USAID's Development Credit Authority, headquartered in Washington, D.C. DTEK is Ukraine's largest private energy company, founded in 2005, owned by Rinat Akhmetov through SCM Holdings, headquartered in Kyiv and led by Maksym Tymchenko. DTEK had already built six Fluence GridStack battery storage systems in Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk Oblast with a combined capacity of 400 MWh, commissioned in September 2025 after six months of construction. Separately, a U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington unanimously rejected Russia's appeal and confirmed U.S. jurisdiction in a case concerning enforcement of an arbitral award of more than $300 million related to DTEK assets seized by Russia in occupied Crimea.