Almost 500 populated localities having blackout in Ukraine - Ukrenergo

MOSCOW. May 6 (Interfax) - There was no power supply to 492 populated localities in Ukraine on Monday morning, Ukrainian media said, citing a statement by the Ukrenergo Electricity Transmission System Operator on a social network.

The media reported power supply restrictions on the Kharkov region, where about 108,000 households had a blackout in the morning. There are round-the-clock power supply restrictions on industries in Krivoi Rog, as well.

It also said, citing the Ukrainian Energy Ministry, that the national power grid intensified the exports of excessive electricity to Poland in the morning at the request of Ukrenergo.

The Ukrainian power grid saw a 9% decline in consumption as of 9:50 a.m., versus the same time on the previous working day, Friday, May 3, Ukrenergo said.

Consumption reached its peak between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Sunday, May 5. It was 14% below the daily maximum on the previous Sunday, April 28.

The Energy Ministry said, for its part, that power consumption was about 10% smaller on Sunday than on Saturday and 12% smaller than on Friday.

However, Ukrenergo continues to call for saving electricity between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.

Renewable energy generation was limited for more than eight hours, between 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. on Sunday due to the excess of electricity.

Ukraine imported 5,362MW/h of electricity from Romania, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Moldova in the evening, which was six times more than on the previous day.

According to Ukrenergo, there was no power supply to 91 populated localities in the Sumy region in the morning, including a partial blackout in 18 populated localities.

Reports citing the Energy Ministry said that over 400,000 households were having a blackout in Sumy and other populated localities in the region.