Ukraine to accumulate funds for energy sector recovery by selling electricity
MOSCOW. May 3 (Interfax) - Ukraine will accumulate funds for recovery of the national energy sector before the next heating season by selling electricity, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal said.
"A power transmission line between Ukraine and Poland has been upgraded and commenced operation. Ukrenergo specialists and their Polish colleagues from the PSE company have done the job. The European partners provided about 1,000 pieces of equipment. The line has been functioning since April 27. It has successfully passed the trial period," Shmygal said at a government meeting on Tuesday, as reported by the Ukrainian media.
An extra powerful interconnector bolsters export and import capacities of Ukraine, he said.
"We will accumulate funds for restoring the energy sector before the next heating season by selling electricity. If necessary, we will increase imports and will receive urgent assistance from neighbors. There will be power supply in Ukraine," Shmygal said.
The interstate power transmission line between Poland and Ukraine, upgraded by Ukrenergo together with the Polish PSE transmission system operator, has successfully passed a three-day test since April 27, the Ukrainian media said with the reference to Ukrenergo.
According to Ukrenergo, the total cost of the project is 350 million euros, while the Polish partners provided about 1,000 tonnes of equipment free of charge.
According to the company, most of the work was done in this section in order to covert electricity generated in Ukraine into European voltage of 400 kV and to transfer it to Europe.
The line is almost 400 kilometers long, and over 70% of it goes through the Ukrainian territory, Ukrenergo said. It is connected to the network through an open switchgear at a Ukrainian energy facility. The project was accomplished within five months by 125 Ukrainian specialists, including 45 Ukrenergo specialists and 80 contractors.
Meanwhile, the Polish operator PSE announced a unilateral month-long auction on its auction platform on Tuesday to assign the available transmission capacity of the Rzeszow-Khmelnitsky NPP line on May 15-31. The auctioned capacity amounts to 200 mW for export from Ukraine and 350 mW for import from Poland.
According to market actors, Ukrenergo does not assign transmission capacity of the Dobrotvor-Zamosc line, which DTEK Zakhidenergo uses to hourly export 75MW of electricity to Poland, for the first week of May because of the holiday season and the absence of auctions organized by the Polish operator.
As reported earlier, the repaired 400kV Khmelnitsky NPP-Rzeszow line was due to begin operation at the end of April. Reconstruction of the 750kV Khmelnitsky NPP-Rzeszow line, which had not been used since the 1990s, included its adjustment to the 400kV voltage of the European network. The line will increase the Ukrainian export potential by 25%-30%. It will be synchronized, and all Ukrainian and European market actors will have access to it.