Kyiv: Ukraine is actively negotiating with the European Union to maximize electricity imports in order to offset the generation capacity destroyed by Russian attacks, Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko announced on Friday.
Since March, Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector have intensified, causing significant damage and widespread blackouts across many regions. The Ukrainian government reports that these attacks have inflicted over $1 billion in damages and resulted in the loss of 8,000 MWh of generating capacity from the national energy system.
Halushchenko emphasized the urgency of the situation, stating that Ukraine is working closely with European countries to bolster its energy imports. “Everything will depend on how quickly our European colleagues – energy system operators of neighbouring countries – will be able to implement projects to expand the capacity of their grids,” he said.
The Energy Minister highlighted that European grid companies will require both time and financial investment to reinforce their substations, install additional transformers, and build new transmission lines. Volodymyr Kudrytskiy, head of Ukrenergo, noted, “We think 3,500 to 4,000 MWh of interstate interconnector capacity is something we can have in the horizon of five years.”
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Electricity Imports
While Halushchenko did not specify the exact amount of electricity imports currently under discussion, Maxim Timchenko, CEO of Ukraine’s largest private energy company DTEK, mentioned earlier this month that increasing imports to 2,200 MWh could significantly alleviate the situation.
DTEK has been severely impacted by the Russian missile attacks, losing about 90% of its power generation capacity in recent months. According to DTEK data, Ukraine’s electricity consumption was around 13,000 MWh before the attacks as of March 17. However, after a series of Russian strikes, consumption has dropped to 9,100 MWh.
Due to these power shortages, Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s power grid operator, has been compelled to implement regular shutdowns for industrial consumers and households while maintaining high import rates. The Ministry of Economy warned this week that ongoing issues with power generation could have a “potentially negative impact” on the industry, particularly the largest electricity consumers.
