Ukraine hopes to triple electricity imports from Europe

MOSCOW. Feb 6 (Interfax) - Ukraine, which is facing a capacity shortage in its energy system, expects to increase electricity imports from Europe to 2 GW in the near future, Ukrainian media quoted Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko as saying at the Ukraine-EU summit.

His speech at the summit was broadcast on YouTube.

The Ukrainian Energy Ministry said currently agreed commercial electricity flows between the EU countries and Ukraine jointly with Moldova are 0.7 GW at night and 0.6 GW during the day. Thus, Kyiv hopes to roughly triple imports.

"Now we also need support by way of electricity imports. The decision to increase the import of electricity to Ukraine to 2 GW will halve the existing deficit," Galushchenko said.

He said that going forward, Ukraine wanted to become one of the biggest energy hubs in Europe, which, according to the minister, would help balance the European energy system, taking into account the expected electricity shortage in Europe.

"We will develop green energy integrated into the European economy. In particular, this year we plan to put up to 500 MW of capacity into operation," he said.