26 Jan 2023 19:55

Ukraine's ECU state energy trader, Turkey's Karpowership working on electricity supply project

MOSCOW. Jan 26 (Interfax) - The Energy Company of Ukraine (ECU), a state-owned energy trader, and Turkey's Karpowership are planning to work out a project of funding and launching 500 MW of electric power from the powerships for Ukraine together with domestic and international organizations.

The Ukrainian and Turkish companies signed a memorandum of understanding and cooperation in the sphere of power supply and the use of floating power plants to overcome the power shortages in Ukraine, the Ukrainian media reported, citing an ECU statement on Thursday.

The capacity could be enough to supply electricity to one million households in Ukraine, the statement said.

One of the options is to place powerships off the coast of Moldova and Romania, connect them to power grids and transmit electricity to the Ukrainian energy system via interstate power transmission lines, ECU said. It is expected to engage the governments of these countries to assess this possibility, it said.

"Electricity deficit caused by damage to the Ukrainian power generating infrastructure has been growing. So far, it is impossible to build new power units to recover the lost or damaged capacities, and we have to look for innovative solutions to overcome the current crisis," ECU Director General Vitaly Butenko said, speaking about the goals of the project.

The Karpowership technology allows to relatively swiftly deploy new generating capacities for targeted supplies to the Ukrainian grid, he said.

"Karpowership is delighted to work with ECU to ease Ukraine's power crisis. Powerships are a fast, reliable, and flexible solution to the nation's electricity shortages, and we are ready to support Ukraine in getting the energy it needs as soon as possible," Karpowership's Chief Commercial Officer Zeynep Harezi said.

According to ECU, Karpowership has a fleet of 36 powerships that can connect directly to the countries' power grids in less than 30 days, using current infrastructure with minimal interference. Karpowership vessels use various fuels, such as natural gas/LNG and low-sulfur liquid fuel, it said. Karpowership operates in 13 countries, including in Africa, New Caledonia and Brazil, and negotiates with several European countries on supply of up to 2 GW of electricity from the powerships, it said.

It was reported earlier that ECU is a state-owned energy trading company that buys, sells and supplies energy to commercial customers. The Ukrainian state holds a 100% stake in the company, and the Economy Ministry manages it.

The company was established to operate on the domestic and foreign energy markets. It established the first state balancing group of electricity market players, which was joined by the Energoatom National Nuclear Power Company.

Ukrainian media also reported, citing head of the Lvov regional administration Maxim Kozitsky, that Georgia donated five power generators to the Lvov region.

"Devices with a capacity of 50, 22 and 15 kilowatts will be given to a specialized sports school for children and young people, a school of high sports skills, and a regional sports center," Kozitsky said on social media.