Ukraine managed to create reserve of power generation capacity - expert

Therefore, there is no reason to doubt that Ukraine will be able to go through and complete the heating season of 2023-2024 normally. This opinion was expressed on Ukrainian Radio by Hennadii Riabtsev, Director of Special Projects at the Psyche Scientific and Technical Center, Ukrinform reports.

The expert assesses the course of the heating season as normal and believes that there is no reason to doubt that Ukraine will lack something to go through and complete this season normally. He emphasizes that the risks are associated with deteriorating weather conditions and rocket attacks.

"This winter is easier than the previous one, because the energy sector is well prepared for it. International partners helped Ukraine with the supply of large equipment, where 100 units of such equipment were either modernized or replaced. This made it possible to create a reserve of distribution capacity, to restore the extensive network that can redirect energy flows if a particular power line fails," Riabtsev said.

According to the expert, "a small but still reserve of generation capacity has been ensured," and now there are several units that are in reserve in case of "something".

"And this reserve capacity will be provided by increasing the capacity of interconnectors. We now have 1.7 GW of possible capacity that can be supplied by our European partners in case of system failures or shortages of electricity. We have never used this capacity in full. Only about 70% - when we had major disruptions due to bad weather and more than 1,000 settlements were cut off from electricity. But these capacities allow us to be quite optimistic about the second half of the heating season," the expert said.

Riabtsev also noted that Ukrainians have significantly reduced their electricity consumption compared to the pre-war period. And despite the fact that there is a small margin in terms of both distribution and capacity, he believes that "all consumers should think about the rational use of energy resources." "Such an approach will allow us to get through the heating season with confidence," he added.

At the same time, Riabtsev emphasizes that problems remain. They are related to the fact that the equipment is mostly pre-war - quite old and fails if there are any problems due to low temperatures and high electricity consumption. The second problem is a significant decrease in the number of qualified power engineers. And the third problem is debt, which requires attention from the government: "If power engineers are unable to pay for equipment and repairs, pay salaries to their employees, then they may not be able to restore the system as well."

Riabtsev reminded that Ukraine is currently self-sufficient in gas from its own production only because consumption of this resource (primarily by industrial consumers and households) has significantly decreased, and also stated that Naftogaz has increased production. However, in general, Ukraine has reduced production. According to him, the preliminary results of gas production in Ukraine are about 17.6 billion cubic meters, while before the war it was more than 20, and this is the total production of all production companies.

Earlier, Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said that Ukraine has steadily passed the first half of the heating season and has enough resources for its successful completion.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, as of January 26, despite the repair of two power units of thermal power plants, no deficit in the power system is expected.