The Ministry of Energy assumes the restriction of electricity supply until the end of the heating season
The Ministry of Energy does not rule out that by the end of the heating season, electricity supply restriction schedules will have to be applied due to material damage to power generation and transmission systems.
“Our main goal is to ensure that outages are scheduled and forecastable, so that consumers clearly understand when electricity will be cut off, and distribution system operators adhere to the outage schedules,” the press service of the Ministry of Energy quotes the statement of Minister of Energy Herman Halushchenko on the air of the United News telethon.
He emphasized that there is constant monitoring of compliance with these schedules by the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Public Utilities (NCSREPU), the State Inspectorate for Energy Supervision of Ukraine and the Security Service of Ukraine.
“Unfortunately, there are recorded violations, first of all, on the part of DSOs (distribution system operators – ed.). That is why we are taking measures, including against managers,” the minister noted, adding that information about violators with specific examples will be made public.
According to Herman Halushchenko, a blackout in Ukraine is theoretically possible but the energy system constantly proves its resilience during almost three months of massive attacks.
“For almost three months, our power system has been operating under constant systematic shelling. Therefore, there is already a set of technical solutions to ensure the stability of its operation. This applies to both power generation and transmission. I am confident that the system will hold up in the future in the face of further possible attacks,” the minister said.
He noted that there were a number of solutions both from the standpoint of physical protection of energy facilities and technical balancing of the system. And these solutions prove their effectiveness.
As reported by Ukrainian Energy, on the night of 1-2 January 2023, the Russian invaders made another massive attack by Iranian-made Shahed-131/136 kamikaze drones. As a result of damage to one of the capital’s energy facilities, emergency power outages were applied in Kyiv.
Massive missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure have been ongoing since 10 October 2022. Since then, Ukraine has daily applied scheduled or emergency restrictions on electricity consumption.
According to the government, as of 11 December, after eight waves of missile attacks, all thermal and hydroelectric power plants in the country were damaged, and 40% of the high-voltage network facilities were damaged to varying degrees.
