Excess consumption results in emergency outages in nine regions across Ukraine - Ukrenergo
MOSCOW. Jan 12 (Interfax) - Ukraine experienced considerable power supply shortages as of 11:00 a.m. on January 12, especially during morning and evening peak consumption periods, Ukrainian media have reported with reference to the national power grid operator Ukrenergo.
The daily power consumption limits set on Tuesday remain in place, and yet emergency outages were triggered in nine regions where those limits were significantly exceeded, Ukrenergo said in a daily update on social media.
"Consumption limits were exceeded in nine regions as early as in the morning, which resulted in emergency outages to maintain the power grid's stable operations," it said.
As reported earlier with reference to Sergei Nagornyak, a member of the Verkhovna Rada's Energy Committee, power supply shortage expected to reach 4,300 MW on Wednesday evening and about 1,200 MW at nighttime.
Meanwhile, Energy Minister German Galushchenko said that Ukraine has been importing small amounts of electricity from Europe since the beginning of the year, and the country's Energy Ministry expects to increase such imports.
"This import is currently small, but it has been ongoing since January 1. Moreover, we have given enterprises an opportunity to buy [imported electricity]," Ukrainian media quoted Galushchenko as saying.
When commenting on possible amounts of electricity exports, the minister said that they will depend on the progress of repairing and reconnecting power units to the grid in the coming days.
"We count on import as well," Galushchenko said.
A large number of traders, including privately owned ERU and DTEK Group, along with state-owned EKU, are now handling electricity imports, he said.
The Energy Ministry said earlier that the agreed commercial flows between the EU countries and Ukraine (together with Moldova) currently amount to 0.7 GW at night and 0.6 GW during the day. These amounts are not enough to fully cover the capacity shortage during the evening peak hours, but electricity imports will help significantly reduce these imbalances.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky in December 2022 announced the delivery of around 2 GW of electricity from Europe to help Ukraine get through winter, estimating the required amount of financing at $800 million.
Meanwhile, the website of the ENTSO-E European energy system currently contains information only about the physical flows of electricity with Ukraine's energy system, but does not offer any information on electricity imports to Ukraine. Electricity exports from Ukraine stopped after its power infrastructure was damaged on October 10.
At the same time, according to Ukrainian media, the average electricity price (BASE price index) on the day ahead market for January 12 is lower in ten EU countries than it is in Ukraine.
The BASE price index on the day ahead market for January 12 will be lower in Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, Norway, Finland, France, and Sweden than in Ukraine, JSC Market Operator said.
The highest average electricity price on the day ahead market for January 12 was recorded in Greece, 8,389 hryvni per megawatt-hour, while the lowest price was in Finland, 2,074 hryvni per megawatt-hour - a quarter of the price in Greece.
On the whole, the BASE price index on the day ahead market in Ukraine has been fluctuating from the lowest to below the average as compared to these prices in the EU countries. Meanwhile, electricity prices on the spot market in Ukraine itself remain relatively stable, as Ukraine's National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Public Utilities has been keeping the price caps on the day ahead market and the intraday market at last year's levels.