Ukrainian electricity may replace some of Russian gas exports to EU - Zelensky
MOSCOW. July 1 (Interfax) - Ukrainian electricity exports to the European Union may replace a certain amount of Russian gas exports to Europe, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
"Another crucial step in our integration into the European Union took place today - Ukraine has begun exporting electricity to EU territory, to Romania. And it is just the first stage. We are preparing to increase deliveries," the Ukrainian media quoted Zelensky as saying in a video address on Thursday evening.
"Ukrainian electricity may help replace a significant amount of Russian gas consumed by the Europeans," he said.
Ukraine, which currently has a significant surplus of electricity generation, will be able to export electricity to Europe unhindered for at least the next few months, Chairman of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada's Energy and Utilities Committee Andriy Herus said.
"We are speaking confidently today about the export of electricity for the next few months: because of a decline in consumption by 30%-40%, we have a surplus in July, August and September. We have excess electricity, which we can sell to Europe unhindered," the Ukrainian media quoted Herus as saying during the country's telethon in the early hours of Friday.
The start on June 30 of electricity exports to Europe in the amount of 100 MWh, which will initially be exported to Romania, is just the first step, he said.
"We plan to increase these volumes first on August 1 and then on September 1, in order to achieve the complete integration of the Ukrainian and European energy markets," the committee chairman said.
The markets' integration will also allow Ukraine to import electricity from Europe should such a need arise, Herus said.
"If something happens to a generation facility in winter, we have a backup option - electricity from Europe, which will help us during some shortage hours," he said.
The opening of electricity exports is crucial to Ukraine, as these foreign currency proceeds will help maintain the stability of the hryvnia, he said. It will also benefit Europe, which will be able to use Ukrainian electricity to replace some of Russian gas exports, he added.
Meanwhile, when commenting on the prospects of the upcoming fall and winter period, Herus said that electricity is being eyed as an alternative to natural gas for providing heating to regions that have been left without this resource because of the crisis.
The available interstate transmission capacity for 100MW electricity exports to Romania on July 2, the third day of such exports following approval from ENTSO-E, will be shared by nine companies. It is the first time that transmission capacity at such an auction has been booked by the Energoatom national nuclear energy company, which will export 159 MWh of electricity.
The results of Ukrenergo's daily auction show that, apart from Energoatom, the transmission capacity has again been bought by PJSC DTEK Zahidenergo (753 MWh), Le Trading Ukraine (625 MWh), Noveyshiye Tekhnologii 3000 (360 MWh), ERU Trading (260 MWh), Nextrade (25 Mwh), and Artlex Energy (14 Mwh).
DE Trading and Ukr Gaz Resurs took part in the auction on electricity exports to Romania for the first time. They plan to export 53 MWh and 9 MWh of electricity, respectively.
Smart Grid Ukraine and Ukrhydroenergo participated in the latest auction and in the previous one, but without results.
The interstate transmission capacity price stands at 13.99 million hryvni, the highest figure over the past three days of auctions (10 million hryvni for June 30 and 13.6 million hryvni for July 1). Thus, Ukrenergo is expected to earn 37.6 million hryvni from the auctions on electricity exports to Romania.
The highest price with delivery at 11:00 p.m. was 7,350 hryvni/MWh, while the lowest price with delivery at 5:00 a.m. was 4,700 hryvni/MWh.
Ukr Gaz Resurs plans to import 1 MWh of electricity by flat traffic from Romania out of the offered 100MWh. These figures are at a zero point for July 2, as they were on June 30, when this route was opened.
As regards the electricity export route to Poland, which was opened following the synchronization of the Ukrainian and European power grids, DTEK Zahidenergo bought the interstate transmission capacity for 65 MWh of electricity exports by flat traffic at the daily auctions for July 1-2. As the company purchased the capacity for 145 MWh at a monthly auction earlier, it plans to export 210 MWh of electricity to Poland over the first days of July, the same amount exported over most of the previous months.
As for the interstate transmission capacity with Moldova, which began exporting electricity from Ukraine in May, 400 MWh of the 600 MWh offered for July 1 were purchased by D.Trading (100 MWh by flat traffic), the capacity for 150 MWh by flat traffic was purchased by Energoatom, which exported 150 MWh of electricity to Moldova throughout June, and the capacity for 150 MWh was bought by Ukrhydroenergo, which exported 80 MWh-170 MWh of electricity to Moldova in the second half of May, but did not receive confirmation from the Moldovan side for electricity exports in June.
D.Trading and Ukrhydroenergo each acquired the capacity for 100MWh of electricity exports to Moldova, and Energoatom bought the capacity of 200 MWh for July 2.
The transmission capacity price at all auctions, except for the Romania-related one, stood at 0 hryvni/MWh.
As reported, electricity exports to and electricity imports from Romania in the amount of 100 MWh began on June 30. Interstate transmission capacity at the auctions for June 30 and for July 1 was sold to five and six companies, respectively. The highest price at both actions was 8,299 hryvni/MWh with delivery at 8:00 p.m., while the lowest price was 1,471 hryvni/MWh with delivery at 3:00 a.m.
ENTSO-E, Europe's association for the cooperation of transmission system operators for electricity, on June 27 gave a go-ahead to starting the commercial export of the first 100 MWh of electricity from Ukraine to Europe. Initially, Ukraine will export electricity to Romania, and then to Slovakia and Hungary, but the electricity transport capacity totals 100 MWh. Ukrenergo plans to enhance these exports in a month's time.