Russian War Against Ukraine: Energy Dimension | DiXi Group Alert – weekly review
June 5 – 11
Summary
— On the night of June 6, the Russian military blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant. Such actions are considered a war crime under Article 56 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 1977, which prohibits attacks on structures such as dams, dikes and nuclear power plants.
— According to the Ministry of Economy, the destruction of the Kakhovka HPP resulted in 80 settlements flooded, part of the flora and fauna of the Kherson region destroyed, several million people left without drinking water, threatened food security and other catastrophic
consequences.
— International humanitarian organizations, including the UN and the ICRC, faced criticism for their failure to help address the consequences in the occupied territories.
— Ukrhydroenergo already plans to build a new plant on the site after de-occupation. According to preliminary estimates, it will take at least 5 years and about 1 billion EUR.
— No direct threat to nuclear safety of the Zaporizhzhia NPP – Energoatom. Water level in the cooling pond (16.6 metres as of June 11) is sufficient, it has has alternative sources of water. According to Oleh Korikov, the Acting Chairman of the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate, the transition of all ZNPP units to a “cold shutdown” is a necessary condition. The IAEA reported that the occupiers have not transferred Unit 5 to a cold shutdown.
— The main problem is the stable supply of drinking water. The government allocated 120 million UAH to the State Water Resources Agency for the needs of Mykolaiv and 845 million UAH for the needs of the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions. Another 1.5 billion UAH have been allocated for the construction of new water mains to provide Kryvyi Rih, Nikopol and Marhanets with drinking water.
— On June 9 and 10, strikes on gas production facilities were reported, as well as on one of the facilities of TSO in the Zaporizhzhia region.
— Ukraine managed to balance the power system. Hydropower stations located higher up the Dnipro river have reduced production capacity in order to limit the flow of water into the Kakhovka reservoir and reduce flooding. Due to a repair campaign on part of the TPPs and
NPPs, on some days, there was a deficit in the evening hours.
— Electricity was imported from Slovakia and Moldova, mainly on weekend, as the price indices in EU countries were lower than Ukrainian one by 1-42%. Emergency assistance was applied twice during the week: on June 7 from Romania (volume not specified), on June 8 from
Romania and Poland (1,200 MWh). On June 11, at the request of Poland, excessive electricity (1,800 MWh) was accepted.
— On June 10, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the law aimed at implementing the Regulation (EU) No. 1227/2011 on Wholesale Energy Market Integrity and Transparency (REMIT).
— On June 8, the NEURC approved and tabled for discussion the draft decision on setting price caps on the DAM, IDM and the balancing market. In particular, it is proposed to increase the maximum caps on DAM and IDM by 35.3%, and to set the minimum ones at 10 UAH/MWh. Probably, a significant reduction in trading on the bilateral contracts market (-91.6% week-onweek) is related to moods ahead of this decision.
— The government has amended the list of goods originating from the Russian Federation prohibited for imports to Ukraine. The exceptions include natural gas – for volumes entering in the regimes of transit, customs warehouse and virtual reverse flow (backhaul), and volumes
delivered through entry points with the EU member states and Moldova.
— The NEURC adopted amendments to the Gas Transmission System Code and other acts to provide incentives for the biomethane industry. Such incentives include enabling the TSO to install reverse compressor stations through which excess volumes of biomethane can be
transported from distribution systems.
— Also, the Regulator issues the first license for the performance of economic activity in energy storage.
— The transit of Russian oil through Ukraine in June will increase by 16% (to 1.13 million tons) – media.
