30 Jun 2022 12:07

Ukraine begins commercial electricity exports to Europe

MOSCOW. June 30 (Interfax) - Ukraine began commercial exports of electricity to Romania on Thursday in the initial amount of 100 MW, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.

"Such exports went in the direction of Romania today at 1:00 a.m. The initial amount is 100 MW," Ukrainian media quoted him as saying on his Telegram channel.

He said that Ukrainian system operator Ukrenergo earned UAH10 million on selling access to the international interchange for exports on just the first day, and that Ukraine could potentially earn more than UAH70 billion per year from such exports.

"The potential for Ukrainian electricity exports to Europe is up to 2.5 GW. In such a scenario, the country will be able to earn more than UAH70 billion per year," Shmyhal said.

Electricity will be one of the drivers of Ukraine's economic recovery, like integration into the European Union has already become, he said.

The ENTSO-E website reported that physical exports from Ukraine to Romania are being conducted on June 30 in the amount of 100 megawatt hours.

It was reported earlier that Ukrenergo earned more than UAH10 million at the first auction to sell interchange to Romania for June 30, and almost UAH14 million at the second for July 1. The interchange was shared by five and six companies, respectively.

The Ukrainian and European energy systems have been operating synchronously since March 16. ENTSO-E allowed Ukraine to begin commercial electricity supplies on June 27. The commercial exchange began at the connection between Ukraine and Romania. Electricity trading at other connections - Ukraine-Slovakia, Ukraine-Hungary and Moldova-Romania - is expected to begin later.

The official exchange rate for June 30 is UAH29.25/$1.