Why industrial heat is the next big lever
Ukrainian manufacturers face a dual challenge: defend margins in a volatile fuel market and meet tightening ESG and procurement requirements from EU customers. Heat is the elephant in the boiler room - it often represents 40-80% of total energy in food processing, beverages, chemicals, building materials, pulp and paper, textiles, laundries, metal finishing. Most of that demand sits at low and medium temperatures up to 200 °C, where electrification and solar resources already work at scale.
When companies ask where to start, we point to what reduces risk first. Good projects align with ISO 50001 energy management, follow bankable design standards, and target loads with stable year-round profiles. For a broad range of plants, industrial rooftop solar design and installation becomes the anchor that cuts electricity spend and enables heat electrification with high-efficiency equipment.
What “solar heat” means in practice
Three reliable pathways to industrial heat
- PV-to-heat via heat pumps
Use high-COP air-source or water-source heat pumps to supply 55-90 °C hot water for CIP, washdown, space heating, preheating of boilers, and low-temp process loops. PV offsets the electrical input. Seasonal COP of 2.5-4.0 is routine; well-engineered systems hit more. - Direct electric heating
Immersion heaters, electrode boilers, and IR panels are simple and robust. When paired with PV and intelligent controls, they shave peaks, stabilize tariffs under two-part contracts, and create predictable OPEX. - Solar thermal
Flat-plate or evacuated-tube collectors deliver 60-120 °C hot water. For higher-grade heat or steam preheat, consider concentrating collectors on suitable sites. Integration requires hydraulic design per EN 12828 and validated stagnation management.
Standards and bankability
- PV: IEC 61215/61730 module certification, IEC 62446-1 for system testing, IEC 62109 for inverter safety, and IEEE 1547-based interconnection principles adapted by local DSOs.
- Heat pumps: EN 14511 performance, EN 378 refrigerant safety, and F-gas compliance for refrigerant handling.
- Thermal systems: EN 12976 for factory-made solar thermal, EN 15316 for system efficiency.
- Management: ISO 50001, supported by metering plans and M&V per IPMVP Option B.
Bankers care about warranties, monitoring, and serviceability. We structure CAPEX with tier-1 equipment, performance guarantees, and SCADA integration to make outcomes measurable, auditable, and finance-friendly.
Where the numbers add up
Cost and performance ranges we see in Ukraine
- PV LCOE: On industrial rooftops and carports, typical levelised cost ranges from 0.035-0.055 €/kWh depending on structure, scale, and financing.
- Heat pumps: With COP 3.0 and electricity from PV plus grid, delivered heat often lands at an equivalent 0.025-0.045 €/kWh-thermal when PV fraction exceeds 35-45% of annual draw.
- Solar thermal: 0.02-0.04 €/kWh-thermal for well-oriented arrays with consistent daytime demand and short thermal runs.
The strongest ROI appears where plants currently burn LPG, diesel, or coal for low-temp heat, and where process schedules allow midday operation, storage, or load shifting.
Integration patterns that de-risk the project
How we phase a plant from fuel to solar heat
- Phase 1 - baseline and controls: Meter heat nodes, validate load curves, and implement temperature setpoint discipline. Quick wins alone cut 5-10%.
- Phase 2 - PV anchor: Build a structurally verified rooftop or carport PV plant with feeder-level monitoring, export limitation where needed, and fault-tolerant string design.
- Phase 3 - electrification module: Add hot-water heat pumps for the first group of loads; integrate plate heat exchangers, buffer tanks, and priority valves.
- Phase 4 - storage and flexibility: Introduce thermal storage sized to 0.5-1.5 hours of peak heat demand; optionally add batteries to reduce evening peaks.
- Phase 5 - scale-out: Extend coverage to sanitation, process preheats, and space heating; evaluate partial steam preheating if justified.
This modular pathway limits downtime, simplifies permitting, and allows staged capex while building operational confidence.
Turning volatility into predictability with hybrid architectures
Industrial sites rarely operate on a flat load profile. Production peaks, seasonal space heating, and sanitation cycles create intraday mismatches between sun and heat. That is why we design around hybrid stacks with intelligent control rather than one technology in isolation. In many Ukrainian factories, the next tranche of savings appears when a PV backbone feeds heat pumps and a modest battery that shifts compressor runs away from evening peaks. For plants with refrigeration, glycol loops can act as thermal sinks to absorb daytime solar surplus. For production lines with frequent CIP, schedule alignment drives PV self-consumption without sacrificing throughput.
In these cases, hybrid solar and battery storage for manufacturing "turnkey" becomes more than a slogan - it is a control problem solved with data. We deploy SCADA and submetering, run digital twins to test dispatch strategies, and implement rules that prioritise critical heat while capping contracted demand.
What to ask before approving the capex
Executive checklist for decision-makers
- Does the load audit split heat by temperature band, hour of day, and production line?
- Is there a structural certificate for rooftop or canopy works including snow, wind, and seismic in line with local norms?
- Are heat pump setpoints, return temperatures, and delta-T engineered to keep COP high across seasons?
- Will the design include thermal storage sized to stabilize compressor cycling and cover short cloud transients?
- Is interconnection agreed with the DSO, including export caps, anti-islanding, and protection schemes?
- Are warranties, spare parts, and O&M commitments in writing with clear SLAs and response times?
Measurable KPIs for your board pack
- PV specific yield kWh/kWp, inverter clipping rate, and self-consumption share.
- Heat pump COP by ambient bin, run-hours, and start-stop counts.
- Thermal storage round-trip efficiency and usable capacity.
- Site demand charge reduction, peak vs off-peak split, and avoided fuel cost.
- Verified emission cuts per GHG Protocol Scope 1 and 2.
Case-style scenarios from Ukrainian industry
- Dairy processor, central Ukraine: 800 kW rooftop PV, 1.2 MWh Li-ion, two 500 kW heat pumps. CIP and pasteurisation preheat moved to daytime; thermal tank of 30 m³ covers changeovers. Gas use fell by 48%, electricity contract renegotiated with lower demand charges.
- Beverage bottler: PV carports over employee parking plus roof arrays cover compressors and hot water. Smart controls shift washer sterilisation into the midday window. Simple meters, big effect.
- Textiles finishing line: Electrified drying with IR panels for the final moisture pass; PV drives the panels during afternoon shifts, while heat pumps supply preheats. Quality improved thanks to tighter temperature control.
Compliance, safety, and operations
We engineer protection and safety from day one: arc-fault and string-level monitoring for PV; relief valves, expansion vessels, and scald protection for hot-water loops; refrigerant leak detection and ventilation for large heat pump rooms per EN 378; power quality filters and harmonic limits per IEC 61000. Clear lockout-tagout procedures are baked into the O&M plan. Commissioning follows IEC 62446-1 for PV and includes thermographic inspections plus functional tests across seasonal setpoints for heat pumps. The result is a system your auditors can trust and your operators can maintain.
Procurement and finance options that work in Ukraine
CAPEX remains the simplest route when you want full control and accelerated payback. Yet power purchase agreements and heat-as-a-service models gain traction for firms prioritising liquidity. We structure projects with phased milestones, transparent BoMs, and performance-linked payments. Insurance, revenue protection, and remote monitoring close the loop. For export-oriented plants, demonstrating Scope 2 reductions and supplier compliance provides commercial leverage with EU customers and can improve credit terms.
What scale makes sense
For many plants, a 300-800 kWp PV anchor with 1-2 MW-thermal of electrified heat supply transforms the utility profile without complex civil works. Roofs, canopies, and adjacent ground parcels all play a role. When the roadmap points to expansion, modular skids and standardised electrical rooms cut time-to-heat significantly. In situations with land and interconnection capacity, adding a behind-the-meter array comparable to a solar panels for industrial use program allows deeper decarbonisation while keeping control of process uptime.
Bottom line - a practical path to resilient heat
Solar is no longer an experiment in Ukrainian industry. It is a disciplined engineering choice with measurable payback, robust standards, and flexible commercial models. Start with loads, design for operations, and scale in phases. Plants that act now do not only reduce energy cost - they gain resilience, compliance credibility, and a stronger position in demanding export markets.
