Ukraine faces a serious electricity shortage before winter, even in favorable weather. The country has lost more than half of its energy production, and its restoration in a short time is impossible.
Since the beginning of spring, Ukraine has become a target for numerous Russian attacks on energy facilities, in particular, according to DTEK CEO Maxim Timchenko, the last attack on May 8 was extremely destructive, causing the shutdown of three power plants.
We have to get out of this accumulation: destruction, repair, new destruction - otherwise, without proper air defense, there is a risk of losses of everything, - Timchenko said. Last year, the Ukrainian air defense successfully intercepted most rockets and drones, this year, due to delays in American assistance, the Russians were able to cause significant damage to the Ukrainian energy system.
According to a member of the Supervisory Board of Ukrenergo, Yuriy Boyko, the approaching winter will certainly be the only question of how much. According to his findings, due to the attacks of the Russian side, Ukraine lost about eight electricity gigawatts, which is almost half the required volume during the period of maximum consumption.
This deficiency can be significantly reduced, but not so much to be completely eliminated. That is, even in the warm winter, the electricity shortage will remain, - Boyko said.
Last year, the Russians attacked mainly an energy distribution network, which required DTEK to spend approximately $ 120 million on repair and repair of equipment. This time the losses will be even higher, since the goal has now become the power plants themselves.
Timchenko estimates that about $ 350 million, even using used equipment from European power plants, need to be replaced by Timchenko, to replace the destroyed turbines, generators and dispatching equipment DTEK.
Timchenko expressed his hope that the Ukrainian energy system will be able to survive the coming winter and avoid catastrophe, provided all the planned measures are being implemented. However, this requires support for the event, including intensification of air defense.
Ukrenergo provides that power outage may continue by the end of the summer. According to Boyko, even with the involvement of imports and emergency care, energy is forced to impose emergency restrictions.
According to energy expert Andriy Zakrevsky, the complete shutdown of power supply in Ukraine is unlikely because there are nuclear power plants. But their capacity is not enough to satisfy consumer peaks.
