Shortage in Ukraine's power grid increasing, consumption limits exceeded in 5 regions on Monday morning - Ukrenergo

MOSCOW. Jan 23 (Interfax) - Shortages in Ukraine's power grid increased on Monday as consumption grew with the start of a working week and increasingly colder weather throughout the country.

"All regional power supply operators were given limits for the whole day. As early as in the morning, the limits were exceeded in five regions, namely the Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, Zaporozhye, Volyn, and Lvov regions, where emergency outages occurred, and they are also possible in other regions," Ukrainian media quoted the national power grid operator Ukrenergo's statement on its social account on Monday.

Assets providing for over 10 GW of established capacity are currently unavailable to the Ukrainian power grid, as they are located in territories not controlled by Kiev. These include, in particular, the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, the Zaporozhye Thermal Power Plant, the Lugansk Thermal Power Plant, the Uglegorsk Thermal Power Plant, and the Kakhovskaya Hydropower Plant. In addition, there are a number of wind and solar power plants in southern parts of Ukraine not controlled by Kiev.

"It should also be noted that, apart from the NPP, the rest of the power plants are key elements in regulating power supply. They are particularly instrumental in covering consumption at morning and evening peak consumption hours, where shortages are most substantial now," Ukrenergo said.

As of January 23, the company managed to restore one 330 kW power transmission line in the southeastern part of the country.

As reported with reference to the operators of six power distribution grids on January 21, Ukrenergo increased daily consumption limits by about 6% and night ones by 2% on Sunday.