Ukraine needs 12-13 billion euros to build a sustainable energy network

Ukraine needs 12-13 billion hryvnias to create a powerful power grid/ UNSPLASH

To ensure the stability of the Ukrainian energy system against possible attacks in the coming years, the country needs to build more than 12 gigawatts of new capacity.

Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, the chairman of the board of NEC «Ukrenergo», told about this.

According to him, it is necessary to implement projects for the construction of 4 gigawatts of wind power plants, 3.8 gigawatts of solar power plants, 1.4 gigawatts of gas generation, 1.1 gigawatts of new biomass thermal power plants and 0.8 gigawatts of energy storage facilities.

The estimated cost of these projects is about 12-13 billion euros. Volodymyr Kudrytskyi emphasized that without the involvement of private investment it will be impossible to implement these plans, and called for the creation of economic conditions that will stimulate business and communities to participate in the construction of a new decentralized energy system.

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Shelling of the energy sector in the spring of 2024

On March 22, Russia carried out the first massive shelling of energy infrastructure facilities this year. The Russian army attacked Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kryvyi Rih, Khmelnytskyi, Poltava Oblast, Vinnytsia Oblast, Lviv Oblast, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Mykolaiv Oblast, Odesa and other regions of Ukraine.

The biggest was the attack on the Dnipro Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) in Zaporizhzhia. This is one of the largest and most powerful hydraulic structures in Ukraine. A rocket attack on the Dnipro HPP resulted in damage to two stations and a dam that are part of its structure.

Oleksandr Kharchenko, director of the Energy Research Center, says that by winter, Ukraine needs to restore at least 25-30% of the damaged heat generation: «We need to fully involve imports. Also, before winter, we need to restore as much as possible from coal generation, from hydro generation, and build facilities in gas generation as much as possible.»

At the same time, according to the Minister of Energy Herman Halushchenko, it is not appropriate to make any predictions about the difficulty of the next winter for the energy industry of Ukraine. In his opinion, now no one will be able to say with which generation Ukraine will end up in the winter: «Actually, everything looks comforting, because the system, despite the Russian strikes, is intact.»

The BBC predicts that Ukrainians can spend up to 20 hours a day without electricity or heating in winter.

In addition, on the night of June 22, the Russians launched missile attacks on critical infrastructure facilities in various regions of Ukraine. As a result of anti-aircraft combat, 25 air targets were shot down, but energy facilities in Zaporizhzhia and Lviv regions were still damaged. Also, as a result of an enemy attack on one of the objects, two energy workers were injured.