Boosting generation at thermal power plants, intensifying imports to help avert power cuts in Ukraine - DTEK top manager
MOSCOW. May 18 (Interfax) - Increasing electricity generation at thermal power plants and electricity imports at peak hours will help avoid limiting power consumption during repairs at generation facilities, DTEK executive director Dmitry Sakharuk said.
"No power cuts for consumers are being planned. Energy sector workers are stabilizing the situation in the energy system by raising generating at thermal power plants and intensifying imports during consumption peak hours," Ukrainian media outlets quoted Sakharuk as saying on social media on Wednesday.
Ukraine is starting to engage in active export-import power exchanges with countries of the European Union, and the successful integration with the ENTSO-E system has given an additional flexibility to the Ukrainian energy system, he said.
"This is routine practice for the European continent when a country exports excess electricity at night or even during certain daytime hours and imports it during the day," he said.
Ukraine will continue to export electricity when there is an excess of it and will increase its import in shortage periods, he said.
Routine maintenance has begun at some nuclear power plant units, and heat and power plants and thermal power plants are conducting active preparations for the next fall-winter season, Sakharuk said.
"This work is going in accordance with the schedule, which will make it possible to prepare the equipment to manage high loading during the heating season," he said.
As reported, the Ukrenergo power grid operator of Ukraine said on May 17 that Ukraine was not importing electricity but continued to export it to Poland and Moldova only at night and during the day when there was an excess of capacity and consumption declined.
The Energy Ministry a week ago categorically denied media reports that limits on power supply to households would be introduced soon.
According to Energy Minister German Galushchenko, intensive efforts are ongoing to prepare the energy system for the next heating season, and the Energy Ministry and all power generating companies of Ukraine are transferring and distributing electricity and have drawn up an optimized schedule of repairs.
"Presently, consumers may be cut off power supply only as a result of damage," the Energy Ministry said.
Director of the Energy Industry Research Center Alexander Kharchenko suggested earlier that Ukraine would have to import approximately 1GW of electricity during peak periods in summer and to put more units of gas-fired thermal power plants into operation in order to cover capacity shortages as nuclear power plants are shut down for maintenance.