US DFC approves €85 million loan to Ukraine's DTEK

KYIV, Sept 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation approved an €85 million ($97.5 million) loan to Ukraine's largest private energy company, DTEK, to expand its battery storage, DFC and DTEK said on Wednesday.

It is the DFC's largest loan for Ukraine's energy sector since the start of Russia's invasion in 2022.

"This €85 million loan means we can release more funds to build more battery storage and other projects," said Maxim Timchenko, the chief executive officer of DTEK. "For me, the financial part is very important, but much more significant is this signal that DFC is ready to support Ukraine and DTEK." 

"They have made an assessment of the risk, understand how to manage it, and are saying that private investors should follow," he said.

DFC's chief executive, Ben Black, said in a statement that U.S. President Donald Trump had empowered the DFC to proceed with the investment.

"These projects will support billions in American exports, secure critical infrastructure and resources in Ukraine, Jordan, Central Asia, and across Africa, and strengthen U.S. companies competing in some of the most important markets in the world.”

DTEK is owned by SCM Holdings, whose sole shareholder and ultimate beneficiary is Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine's richest man.

Last year, DTEK launched Ukraine's largest battery storage facility to ensure stable power supplies as Russia has persistently targeted Ukrainian energy facilities in missile and drone attacks during more than four years of war.

Six battery storage systems have been connected to the power grid in the capital, Kyiv, and in Dnipropetrovsk region in Eastern Ukraine. 

The facilities, constructed in partnership with U.S.-based Fluence, a battery storage technology company, have the capacity to store 400 megawatt hours of electricity — enough to power 600,000 Ukrainian households for two hours.

($1 = 0.8721 euro)

(Reporting by Olena Harmash in Kyiv; Editing by Matthew Lewis)