A sharp cold snap and repairs to some thermal power plant units led to a power shortage in Ukraine.
There was a power shortage in the Ukrainian energy system for the second day. The state company Ukrenergo explained this by increasing consumption due to cold weather. In addition, the situation is complicated by repairs to several thermal power plant units.
Now power engineers are looking for ways to fill the shortfall and promise not to disconnect consumers yet, but at any moment everything can change because of the weather.
Request to Ukrainians
On November 23, electricity consumption continues to grow, there is a shortage in the energy system, so the situation remains difficult, states Ukrenergo.
“The maximum electricity consumption at night on November 22 was 4% higher than on November 21. For the energy system, this is equivalent to the need to turn on at least 2 additional units of the thermal power plant , the production capacity is limited due to the repair of some units,” the company reported.
Yesterday, at the request of Ukraine, transmission system operators from Romania, Slovakia and Poland gave us emergency help, so electrical engineers urge the population to consume voltage sparingly during the day.
“Do not turn on powerful electrical devices at the same time, turn off the lights in empty rooms, move washing to night hours,” Ukrenergo appeals to Ukrainians.
At the same time, not all settlements in Ukraine have electricity. As the company notes, four settlements in the Chernihiv region were disconnected due to weather conditions. Due to the fighting and other reasons, 409 communities remain without electricity. In addition, the Russian army destroyed new oblenergos networks in the regions of Dnepropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkov, and Kherson.
Shutdown conditions
If Ukrenergo fails to compensate for the lack of electricity in the network, blackouts will return, said Alexander Kharchenko, director of the Center for Energy Research. This, according to him, depends on the average daily temperature: if Ukraine is covered by more severe frosts, then the electrical engineers will again start turning off the lights in 1-3 hours .
“There are many calculations, there are many different scenarios for how the events will develop. But I think that with an average daily temperature somewhere around -8 – -10°C, in unfortunately, we have to apply graphs. Ukrainians have to be ready for this,” the air expert explained to the Kiev TV channel.
“Energy workers have warned and warned many times that at low temperatures there will be shortages in Ukraine’s energy system. This is an objective situation. This does not mean that anyone will die or there will be some kind of Armageddon .There will be outage schedules according to which within 1-3 hours Electricity must be turned off at certain times so that everyone has the opportunity to receive and use it,” Kharchenko added.
Which areas will be affected first?
After the shelling of Russian energy facilities, energy workers did their best to ensure that the population was not left without electricity, but it was impossible to restore all the power.
“50% of our generating capacity was destroyed, of course, there is a certain shortage… There is no magic wand, it is impossible to restore our previous coal power plants, the most damaged and now the most problematic energy facility. They are 50 years old, and now there are missiles and drones,” the expert recalled.
That means, according to him, blackouts are inevitable and will affect the entire country, because all regions are “connected” to the same network. However, there are regions that are the most problematic in terms of electricity shortages.
“The most problematic are Kiev and Odessa, Odessa region. Next come Kharkov, Sumy, Chernigov. Kiev is a huge city with very high consumption, and at the same time it depends on the electricity supply from external power plants. Accordingly, to heal Kiev, many power plants operate different parts of the energy system. And if there are any problems with networks on the way to Kiev, Kiev is immediately becoming lacking,” explained Kharchenko.
What the government says
Due to the urgent need to repair some units of the thermal power plant, the Minister of Energy German Galushchenko ordered to check their feasibility.
“The reasons for the repair of the units and, accordingly, their suitability should be clarified by Gosenergonadzor specialists during the inspection. The results will be reported afterwards,” the department said.
At the same time, the ministry emphasizes that there are no restrictions on consumers’ electricity consumption and, accordingly, there are no planned and unplanned outages.
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Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.