Cabinet considers canceling power outages in Ukraine's frontline areas
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The Cabinet of Ministers is considering the possibility of canceling power outage schedules for some frontline areas, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, Chair of the Board of NPC Ukrenergo, said in an interview with news agency Hromadske on June 27.
"The Cabinet of Ministers is currently working on the possibility of changing the methodology for applying blackouts to some of the frontline territories, where the humanitarian situation is already difficult, and there is a real threat to life due to shelling," Kudrytskyi said. “There are plans to define a zone close to the front line where blackouts will no longer be applied.”
The specific areas to be exempted from the schedules are expected to be determined soon. Kudrytskyi also noted that the trunk power grid is now able to deliver electricity to any region, but there is an insufficiency in electricity production and imports to meet consumers' needs.
"Some power units at thermal and hydroelectric power plants have been completely destroyed – they are either not subject to restoration at all or it will take a long time, perhaps several years," Kudrytskyi said. The energy sector should focus on restoring facilities that can still be repaired by winter, as consumption in winter will increase by 40% compared to summer months.
"The actual situation will depend on many factors, the main one being the strikes. It is impossible to predict their nature, massiveness, and accuracy," Kudrytskyi added, noting that power engineers are preparing for different scenarios for the cold season.
Russia struck Ukraine's energy sector again, damaging power facilities in four regions overnight on June 19-20. A critical infrastructure facility was hit in Vinnytsia Oblast. Additionally, Russia attacked a DTEK thermal power plant, injuring three power engineers and causing serious damage to the equipment.
The situation in the Ukrainian energy system is expected to worsen over the next few weeks. From 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., rotating outages will be slightly longer than at other times of the day, and this will continue until about the end of July, Kudrytskyi said earlier.
At the beginning of the rolling blackouts, high-rise buildings located on the same lines as hospitals and other critical facilities were not cut off. However, as of June 18, the number of such high-rises in Kyiv has decreased by exactly three times. In October 2022, there were 1,497 such buildings (12% of the total), but now there are only 510 (4%).
"The situation is quite complicated," said Oleksandr Kharchenko, director of the Energy Industry Research Center, rating the state of the Ukrainian grid at 3 out of 12. It will take about two years to restore Ukraine's energy system, and Ukrainians will face inevitable blackouts in the next two winters. By winter, Ukraine will be able to restore only 200-250 MW, or 7% of the required 3.5 GW of electricity generation.
Ukraine's Health Minister Viktor Lyashko warned that power outages and water supply disruptions could trigger an outbreak of cholera and other diseases in Ukraine.
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