Gas piston units donated by USAID being installed in Ukraine
MOSCOW. July 9 (Interfax) - Ukraine has connected 18 of the 91 gas piston cogeneration units transferred by United States Agency for International Development (USAID), but there are problems financing the work, said Yury Boiko, advisor to the Ukrainian prime minster.
"Of the 96 gas piston units that USAID said it would transfer to Ukraine, 91 have so far been transferred and 18 have already been installed. Time is always needed between receiving and installing equipment to integrate it into the electricity, gas, and sometimes heat networks. This takes months, not days. In addition, some of the equipment is still on the way," Ukrainian media quoted Boiko as saying at the fourth conference on energy law in Kiev last Friday.
He said the winter preparation headquarters, chaired by Infrastructure Minister Vasily Shkurakov, communicated on a regular basis with regional military administrations and heating and energy companies on problems related to the upcoming heating season, and was monitoring the outcome, including where connecting generating equipment from donors is concerned.
"Those local authorities that have already received these units confirmed unanimously at the last HQ meeting that they could be connected by the start of the winter season," Boiko said.
"But let's be realistic. Not all the equipment declared to have been delivered in the framework of various donor programs will definitely be installed by the beginning of the winter season, especially if such equipment arrives, say, in October or later. You will still need two or three months or more to connect it if we are talking about large units," he said.
He said financing for the connections really was the key issue in this process.
"The state and local budgets have limited opportunities. The Infrastructure Ministry plans to make a proposal to the government not to use the 65/35 funding distribution algorithm for those enterprises that received equipment and pledged to install it by the end of the year. This step should help them finance the connection of such installations on their own," Boiko said regarding the crux of the initiative.
Commenting on the delay with connecting the 28 MW gas turbine unit transferred by USAID in February 2023, he said that "for this equipment [now arriving] the situation differs for the better - each donor unit is being monitored closely at the winter headquarters."
As reported, according to a resolution dated July 19, 2022, 65% of the funds received by heating and energy companies for heat and hot water supply services are transferred to Naftogaz Trading LLC and 35% remain at their disposal.
USAID recently announced the transfer of 96 gas piston units to Ukrainian cities.
Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko said on June 17 that Energoatom had connected a 28 MW mobile gas turbine power station received from USAID.
During the transfer of the gas turbine station in February 2023, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink said it could supply electricity to up to 100,000 consumers. However, it was not connected for a long time, which the energy community said was due to technical issues.