Senior officials from Germany’s Voith Hydro GmbH & Co KG have held discussions with Ukraine’s Ukrhydroenergo to provide specialized training for Ukrainian hydropower engineers. The initiative, part of a German-backed humanitarian effort, aims to support the reconstruction of Ukraine’s damaged hydroelectric infrastructure.
Voith Hydro representatives, including Gerhard Seyrling, CEO of Voith Hydro Austria, and Tomasz Dudkiewicz, Regional Manager for Poland, Ukraine, Latvia, and Lithuania, spoke with Ukrhydroenergo CEO Ihor Syrota about the HydroSchool program on 11 November in Warsaw. The training aims to enhance the skills of Ukrainian engineers involved in restoring and modernizing the country’s hydroelectric plants.
“For Ukrhydroenergo, this training is another step in strengthening our capabilities to rebuild and reconstruct the damaged hydroelectric power plants,” said Syrota. “Our specialists are also interested in acquiring modern skills that are currently relevant in the process of modernizing hydropower plants with the transition to EU technical regulations, optimizing operations, and new technologies.”
Syrota added that the training will help engineers better manage projects funded by organizations like the World Bank, EBRD, and EIB. “By completing HydroSchool training programs and workshops led by Voith Hydro Austria, Ukrhydroenergo’s engineers and other specialists will deepen their knowledge of modern and innovative approaches to operation, modernization, and production modeling.”
The HydroSchool program will offer training on various hydropower topics, including turbines, generators, excitation and control systems, and overall plant operations. Sessions will be held in Austria and Ukraine, with potential involvement from the Ukrainian design institute PJSC Ukrhydroproject.
The meeting concluded with plans to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between Voith Hydro Austria and Ukrhydroenergo to formalize the partnership. They also discussed future cooperation on restoring hydropower facilities damaged by Russian attacks.
