Ukraine
UKRUkraine is third in the world for nuclear.
Nuclear supplies 56% of its electricity.
What this grid depends on
Three measures that say more about a country than how much power it makes. Open “what this means” on any of them if the term is new.
Cleaner than 7 in 10 grids worldwide.
What this means
How much planet-warming gas is released to make one unit of electricity. Two countries can generate exactly the same amount and one of them be ten times dirtier doing it. Lower is better.
Ukraine generates almost exactly what it uses, with next to nothing crossing its borders.
What this means
Electricity can be sold across a border like anything else, through high-voltage lines connecting one country's grid to the next. Buying it in means leaning on a neighbour to keep the lights on. Selling it means generating more than the country needs.
A mix of fuel produced at home and fuel bought in.
What this means
How much of what this grid runs on the country can supply itself. Sun, wind and water count fully, because nobody can cut them off; coal, gas and oil only as far as the country digs them up. A high score is not the same as a good grid: mining your own coal scores well, importing uranium scores badly.
Also true of Ukraine
Ukraine uses far more electricity per person than countries at its income level.
2,719 kWh a year, against a median of 1,255 across the 18 lower-middle-income countries here.
Ukraine has taken the carbon out of its electricity fast.
442 grams of CO2e a kilowatt-hour in 2012, 250 in 2022.
Ukraine’s neighbours
PolandPoland is among the world's biggest wind and solar producers and still burns fossil fuels for most of its power.
RomaniaRomania has cleaned up its grid faster than most people realise.
BelarusBelarus has cleaned up its grid faster than most people realise.
HungarySolar overtook gas on Hungary's grid in 2024.
SlovakiaSlovakia is second in the world for nuclear.
Figures are for 2022, the most recent year reported for Ukraine. Generation shares are a percentage of electricity generated, not of energy used. How this is calculated.