Before the aggressor’s invasion, Ukraine confidently ranked among the top 10 countries leading in the industry’s development speed. In 2020, Ukraine was recognized as one of the 5 countries most actively developing alternative energy in Europe. The military aggression not only halted the industry’s development but also brought colossal losses, with enterprises on the brink of bankruptcy. We talked about the difficulties of introducing business and the prospects for the development of alternative energy with Onder Nalbant, CEO of Irun Engineering.
LDaily: What was your experience of doing business during the war? What changes have occurred in your company, what difficulties have you encountered and how did you overcome them? Have the approaches to managing your company changed? What practices have been proved useful amidst the crisis?
O. Nalbant: After the war started, I was stuck in Kherson with my family and my employees. Local employees have managed to leave the city by their own organization while I had to organize an evacuation for other foreign staff. As of March 13, I managed to participate in Turkey’s Foreign Ministry evacuation plan to Turkey, traveling through Crimea. I had to leave behind all my belongings, including my home, car, and office.
There were 8 people working at my company and then left only two employees (me and my co-founder) as of March 2022.
I had to open a new legal entity in Turkey, under the same name and commercial activities and tried to connect two entities legally. But it was not successful since there was no opportunity to operate the Ukrainian branch due to many reasons (absence of an accountant, legal advisor, office manager, the damaged office because of the war, etc.).
Using the cloud (Dropbox, email server, etc.) for storing the documentation was useful to continue the business activities remotely and is useful during the war.
LDaily: Describe today the state of the renewable energy sector in Ukraine.
O. Nalbant: Since Russian aggression targeted the infrastructure and the power generating plants, most of wind power plant and solar power plants are either damaged or ordered not to operate due to safety reasons.
Once again, the importance of distributed (not centralized) power plants, particularly solar power plants, has been recognized and emphasized.
Another notable development is the construction and successful operation of the Tyligul wind power plant (by DTEK) even under the challenging conditions of war. One more example from my side is that, developing two new wind power plant, one in Kanivska region (150 MW) and another one is Umanska WPP.
IRUN conducted wind resource assessments for both of them, and their development is currently underway.
LDaily: Your company remained in the occupied territories – in Nova Kakhovka. How does it function now under occupation?
O. Nalbant: Currently we run all our activities remotely from Turkey, no physical or in person office work in Nova Kakhovka, unfortunately.
LDaily: We hear a lot that the Russian occupation forces in the captured part of the Kherson region threaten entrepreneurs with confiscation of property. Has it affected you?
O. Nalbant: Our office has been damaged during the shelling, that is what we know. We couldn’t reach the office owner recently. We just asked him to keep our documentation and office stuff in a safe.
LDaily: Your company specializes in the construction of wind power plants in Ukraine. How difficult is it to attract new customers during the war? How have your customers needs changed due to the war? How has the geography of orders changed? What losses did you incur?
O. Nalbant: IRUN Engineering was providing not only consultancy but also wind turbine installation, wind farm construction as well as blade inspection and maintenance services. As of the war, our services are limited to wind resource assessment and development consultancy.
Our ongoing transportation services were also suspended (near Odessa). Thanks to God, we have received the delivery of all the turbine components when the war started, but we couldn’t conclude all the commercial transactions with the shareholders.
LDaily: You have restarted your company in Turkey under the name IRUN-Turkey. What function does it perform in Turkey and how does it cooperate with Ukrainian companies?
O. Nalbant: IRUN Turkey has the same activity codes and giving the same services with IRUN Ukraine. The ongoing consultancy services are trilateral (IRUN UA, IRUN TR and the Customer). We had to collaborate with some Turkish partners to fulfill all the service requirements, by signing trilateral contracts.
We also supplied power generating materials to Ukraine (batteries, inverters, small scale agricultural pumping systems, etc.) as a new material supply business.
LDaily: What prospects do you see for the development of wind energy in Ukraine during the war and after the war?
O. Nalbant: Observing the ongoing wind turbine installations and wind farm developments, land acquisitions, etc., I would say Ukraine will have a new boom in terms of renewable installation, not only after the war but also during the war. The importance of energy independence, renewable, sustainable, and distributed energy sources has been demonstrated. We will continue to assist, support, and collaborate with our Ukrainian friends and clients until we see a peaceful sky in Ukraine, ready to resume its development from where it was interrupted.
