Ukrenergo reports power supply problems

MOSCOW. May 14 (Interfax) - A total of 421 communities across Ukraine were cut off from power supply for various reasons as of the morning of May 14, Ukrainian media have reported with reference to the national power grid operator Ukrenergo's social media post.

Power supply restrictions on industrial consumers will be applied from 4:00 p.m. May 14 to 7:00 a.m. May 15, it said.

"Consumption restriction is an essential measure to maintain stable power system operations," Ukrenergo said.

The day before, restrictions were expected to be applied starting from 5:00 p.m.

Consumption in the national energy system is growing as the temperature dropped, Ukrenergo said. In particular, consumption grew 4.5% as of 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday from the same time on Monday, and the consumption peak on Monday evening was 4% higher than that on the previous working day, May 10, it said.

"Considerable electricity shortage persists in the energy system for most of the day," Ukrenergo said.

To cover shortage in the power system, emergency power supplies to Ukraine from the Romanian, Polish, and Slovak energy systems were activated at Ukrenergo's request from 0:01 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. and from 10:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. on May 13. Ukraine also accepted emergency assistance from European Union countries from 0:01 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. on May 14.

On Tuesday, Ukraine is expected to import a total of 21,072 MWh of electricity from Romania, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, and Moldova, with transmission capacity reaching 1,463 MW during certain hours.

Since December 1, 2023, the capacity limit for electricity supplies from the European Union to Ukraine and Moldova has been increased to 1,700 MW.