Power lines damaged in Ukraine's Lvov and Dnepropetrovsk regions - Ukrenergo

MOSCOW. Aug 15 (Interfax) - Emergency repairs are continuing on damaged power lines in the Lvov region, Ukrainian media outlets said, citing information circulated by the Ukrenergo power grid operator on social media on Tuesday.

Power lines have also been damaged in the Dnepropetrovsk region, but electricity supply to consumers has not been affected, Ukrenergo said.

In addition, fresh damage has been caused to power lines in the Sumy and Kharkov regions and the Kiev-controlled part of the Donetsk and Kherson region, leaving 404 towns and villages without electricity, the company said.

Consumers in the Lvov region were cut off from power supply for several minutes on August 14 because of technical problems on a 330 kV power line caused by a violation of safety rules by an agricultural machine driver working near the power line.

Technical difficulties also disrupted the operations of two overhead power lines in the Kiev region, but caused no power outage.

A 330 kV line supplying power to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant was disconnected from the grid because of damage, Ukrainian media outlets said, citing information published by the Energy Ministry on social media. The power line's section in the territory of Belarus was damaged. A fallen tree disrupted the functioning of another 330 kV power line in the Kiev region. A 220 kV electrical substation in the Ivano-Frankovsk region was also disconnected from the grid after its equipment was damaged.

According to Ukrenergo, the maximum power consumption level increased by 7% on August 14 versus August 13, which was a Sunday, and by 2.4% as compared to the previous workday on August 11.

Among the reasons behind the rise, Ukrenergo listed the start of the workweek, the arrival of another spell of hot weather and the almost simultaneous switching-on of conditioners across the country. Ukrenergo also said that for the energy system, a 7% increase in the maximum consumption level means the necessity to swiftly reconnect to the grid at least two extra units at thermal power plants, but the number of available power units is limited.

Data from the ENTSO-E website shows that electricity imports grew by almost 7% to 5,873 MWh on Tuesday. Electricity is being imported to Ukraine from Moldova (1,732 MWh), Poland (1,230 MWh) and Slovakia (2,911 MWh). Overall import capacity reaches 1,048 MW in certain hours, with Ukraine's maximum electricity import capacity standing at 1,200 MW, Ukrenergo said.