Ukrainian thermal power plant halts operations due to high-voltage power line damage - Ukrenergo

MOSCOW. Sept 1 (Interfax) - A thermal power plant halted power output to the grid because of high-voltage transmission line damage on Friday morning, Ukrainian media reported with reference to the national power grid operator Ukrenergo's statement on its social account.

Another high-voltage power transmission line operated by Ukrenergo was disabled by an automated protection system in the eastern part of Ukraine on Friday morning, it said.

About 84 communities in the Poltava, Kiev, Chernigov, and Odessa regions were cut off from power supply due to adverse weather, it said.

A total of 411 communities across Ukraine remain without electricity for various reasons. New damage has been recorded in power grids in the Kharkov and Sumy regions and in the Kiev-controlled part of the Donetsk region, it said.

As concerns the situation in the power system as a whole, even though the average daily temperature dropped by nearly 5 degrees Celsius on August 31, the evening consumption peak was only 3% lower than the past summer's record seen on August 29.

To cover consumption, Ukrenergo again had to apply for emergency aid from abroad in the amount of 600 MW/h from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Thursday, this time around from Romania and Slovakia. This amount was one-quarter of emergency aid Ukraine received the day before. According to experts' calculations, the amount of electricity Ukraine received as emergency aid, which is the last resort to balance power generation and consumption before restricting power supply, was unprecedented in August. Ukraine had to resort to emergency aid for about one-third of the month, and its overall amount reached nearly 19,000 MWh, compared to 1,200 MWh in July.

At the same time, the amount of electricity Ukraine was to import commercially from Slovakia and Moldova on September 1 decreased by 28% to 1,300 MW/h compared to the day before.

As reported, Ukraine has had to receive electricity as emergency aid from Europe several times this summer to maintain balance between power generation and consumption. It received such aid from the Romanian energy system from 8:00 p.m. to 11 p.m. on June 7; then it received 1,200 MW/h on June 8, 1,600 MW/h on June 12, and 1,200 MW/h on June 28 from Romania and Poland, then 1,200 MW/h from Romania between 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. on July 27; 1,200 MW/h from Romania between 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. on August 16 and 17 each, 2,000 MW/h from Poland and Romania from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on August 21, a record of 3,900 MW/h from Poland and Romania from 1:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., 1,800 MW/h from Poland and Romania from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on August 23 and 24 each, 1,200 MW/h from Poland and Romania from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on August 28, 2,650 MW/h from Poland and Romania from 2:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on August 29, and 2,400 MW/h from Romania and Poland on August 30.

Ukraine's nuclear power plant operator Energoatom on August 31 put into operation a sixth of the nine nuclear power units currently controlled by Ukraine, whose nominal capacity is 1,000 MW, following maintenance five days ahead of schedule. Thus, after this unit reaches capacity, the total capacity of Ukrainian nuclear power units would be 5.4 GW, which, in the view of Energoatom head Petr Kotin, would help avoid a shortage in the system.