Ukraine is rapidly restoring damaged power facilities and building new generating capacity, Andrii Herus, Chair of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Energy, Housing and Utilities, told the United by Mining forum.
He said this had enabled Ukraine to substantially increase electricity exports to Europe over the summer.
“In July and August, we were net exporters of electricity. We had so much that we exported more of it to Europe. Electricity there was quite expensive at the time because of Iran,” the lawmaker noted.
The absence of systematic Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy facilities helped make this possible. According to Herus, even if attacks had occurred, the system had enough resilience to offset the damage and prevent large-scale power outages.
“Even if there had been attacks, our power system would most likely have absorbed them, and they would not have had a major effect. Perhaps that is precisely why they did not happen,” Herus said.
However, he added that the power system faces a new challenge: falling electricity consumption. In August, consumption declined by more than 20% as industry shut down.
“In August, electricity consumption fell by more than 20% year on year. That is a very large percentage, because these are macroeconomic indicators. It is comparable to our GDP falling by 20%. These are serious matters,” Herus said.
The lawmaker explained that the balance between consumption and generation is critically important for the power system.
“Any energy sector is needed when there is a consumer who uses its output. Without that consumer, it loses its purpose,” he said.
Earlier reports noted that on the night of September 30, Russia resumed its campaign of strikes on Ukraine’s power system. As a result, emergency power cuts were introduced on September 30 in the capital and in Kyiv, Zhytomyr and Chernihiv regions.
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