Ukraine hoping to compensate for electricity deficit with imports - energy minister

MOSCOW. Dec 14 (Interfax) - Ukraine is hoping to compensate for electricity deficit with imports from Europe, Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko said.

"There is electricity in Europe, it is available. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian electric power industry has a deficit, which it would like to compensate for with possible imports to the utmost extent," the Ukrainian media quoted Galushchenko as saying on the We - Ukraine media platform on the sidelines of the Paris Solidarity Conference on Tuesday.

That will help Ukraine stably live through the winter, the minister said. Still, that would require a decision of ENTSO-E to increase the interstate connection capacity.

"For now, we are limited to the amounts, which are much smaller than our technical capacity," Galushchenko said.

Financing is another key issue in electricity imports, he said.

As reported earlier with the reference to Ukrenergo CEO Vladimir Kudritsky, the company allows for imports of 500-600 MW of electricity from Europe but that requires a special mechanism, as electricity prices in Europe are higher than they are in Ukraine. This kind of mechanism is being developed.

It is unlikely that anyone in Ukraine would want to buy electricity from Europe on general commercial terms, he said.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said at the Paris Solidarity Conference on December 13 that Ukraine needs to import up to 2 GW of electricity from Europe.