26.08.2024
Russian War Against Ukraine: Energy Dimension | DiXi Group Alert – weekly review
August, 19 – 25
- On August 26, Russia conducted another massive shelling of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Damage to power facilities was reported in Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Vinnytsia, Lviv, Ivano–Frankivsk, and Zhytomyr regions, with a total of 15 regions affected. Ukrenergo used emergency power outages to stabilize the power system. The heads of the regional administrations were tasked to deploy the Unbreakable Points if necessary.
- Russia continues to blackmail with the nuclear threat on its territory. The IAEA was notified by Russia that a drone’s remains were found within 100 meters of the spent nuclear fuel storage facility located on the territory of Kursk NPP.
- Ukrenergo is completing the construction of the first stage of anti–drone protection at 41 high–voltage equipment facilities, while the State Agency for Restoration and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine is installing protection systems for another 22 substations. The project is funded by international financial institutions, including the IBRD, EIB, EBRD, and KfW.
- The implementation of the Peace Formula Began with the “Energy Security” Clause. The conference, attended by more than 40 countries, discussed the protection and restoration of Ukraine’s energy system, the transition to green energy and energy independence, and adopted a joint communiqué on cooperation in energy and infrastructure protection.
- On August 19–21, due to the increase in temperature and, consequently, the growth in consumption, Ukrenergo applied planned restrictions on electricity consumption. The restrictions were applied to industrial and residential consumers in the evening and at night and lasted for a total of 12% of the week.
- On August 23, a 1,000 MW nuclear power unit was connected to the grid. This helped to eliminate the shortage and avoid restrictions for consumers. At the same time, to balance the surplus in the daytime, starting on August 25, Ukraine planned to resume electricity exports.
- Ukrenergo held the second special auction for the purchase of automatic frequency restoration reserves (aFRR) for a period of 5 years. Two types of services were purchased: 579 MW of reserves for the load service and 421 MW of symmetrical reserves. Аll 35 auction participants, who made 807 offers, will receive contracts for 5 years with the opportunity to build new power plants and get equipment certified by October 2025.
- The Verkhovna Rada has passed a law on the implementation of “smart grids”, which, in particular, stipulates that in 2024 Ukrenergo should use the funds from the distribution of cross–border capacity to repay debts: 50% will go to the balancing electricity market, and the remaining 50% will be used to pay to the Guaranteed Buyer SE to support the production of electricity from alternative sources.
- The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine extended special obligations for gas supplies to heat producers until April 30, 2025.
