Ukraine seeks emergency assistance of Poland, Romania to compensate for electricity shortage

MOSCOW. April 16 (Interfax) - The dispatch center of the Ukrenergo electricity transmission system operator sought emergency assistance of Poland and Romania totaling 800 MW/h between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Monday to compensate for the electricity shortage on peak hours.

"The Ukrenergo dispatch center calls for limiting the use of energy-intensive devices during the peak consumption hours between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.," Ukrainian media said, citing the system operator.

According to Ukrenergo, 13,100 MW/h of electricity was imported from Romania, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Moldova on April 16, with the maximum hourly supply of 1,429MW. No exports were planned.

Scheduled power outages began in the Kharkov region at 7 a.m. on Tuesday. Power supply to households was not limited in other regions.

There are still power supply restrictions on industrial enterprises in the Krivoi Rog district of the Dnepropetrovsk region.

Ukrenergo reported a blackout in 435 populated localities on Tuesday morning.

In turn, media quoted a statement by the Ukrainian Energy Ministry, which said that bad weather cut power supply to 173 populated localities in the Dnepropetrovsk, Kirovograd and Kiev regions and the Kiev-controlled part of the Zaporozhye region this morning.