Power supply situation in Ukraine improves, but problems persist in Odessa and its region

MOSCOW. Feb 17 (Interfax) - Ukraine's energy system will operate with a capacity margin on Friday, February 17, and at the weekend, Energy Ministry German Galushchenko said.

"There will be a capacity margin due to a decline in demand," Ukrainian media outlets quoted Galushchenko as saying in a social media post.

Stabilizing power cuts are still possible in the Odessa region because of ongoing repairs on networks, but such outages will be shorter, the Energy Ministry said.

Power supplies have been restored to another 2,000 consumers or so in the Kharkov region over the past day following the completion of repairs, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, the Ukrenergo power grid operator has not introduced any electricity consumption limits for Friday, February 17, prompting Ukrainian distribution system operators to again report the absence of power outage schedules, which thus will not be used for the sixth consecutive day.

The absence of power consumption limits from Ukrenergo on Friday allows the country's distribution system operators to continue working without stabilizing power cuts, Ukrainian media said, citing head of the YASNO power supplying company Sergei Kovalenko.

"But accidents in infrastructure are continuing. For instance, Ukrenergo's power equipment broke down, forcing colleagues to limit supplies to the Goloseyevsky district of Kiev. One of the two lines is functioning at the moment. It cannot deliver the required amount of electricity. That is why, we have to limit power supply," Kovalenko said.

The power consumption limits are absent only for the population, in this case Kiev residents, he said.

"The thing is that businesses, large energy-intensive enterprises are continuing to receive limited amounts of electricity. Unlike the population, enterprises cannot yet function in full," Kovalenko said when commenting on the situation.

According to DTEK, stabilizing power outages are continuing in the Odessa region due to existing transmission constraints.

Meanwhile, the region's critical infrastructure has received 29 generators from DTEK and the Energy Ministry, a move that has helped lower the burden on the energy system and free up an additional 30 MW of electricity for the needs of households in Odessa and the Odessa region, the company said.

"It is enough to provide 6,000 households with electricity," it said.

DTEK also said that it will soon hand over another 18 generators to Odessa's key social sector enterprises to free up an extra amount of electricity for households.

According to DTEK executive director Dmitry Sakharuk, Odessa and the Odessa area, which lost power supply as a result of an accident in Ukrenergo's networks on February 4, have electricity an average of 19 hours a day.

As reported, Ukrenergo has not introduced power consumption limits for the regions since Sunday, February 12, because there is no electricity shortage any longer. Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko said that the energy system already has a certain capacity margin.

According to Ukrenergo head Vladimir Kudritsky, the growth of power generation and the stabilization of the situation in the energy system have allowed industry to considerably reduce electricity imports. Electricity imports from Slovakia and Moldova have dropped 21-fold and 14-fold, respectively, as of Friday.