In Ukraine, they said they did not plan to import electricity from Russia – Economy and business
KIEV, December 21. / TASS /. Ukraine does not intend to resume electricity supplies from Russia. Minister of Energy of the country Herman Galushchenko spoke about this at a briefing on Tuesday.
“We do not import electricity from Russia and do not plan to do so,” he said.
Galushchenko claims that the lack of supplies from the Russian Federation did not in any way affect the passage of the autumn-winter period in Ukraine.
In the fall of 2019, after a four-year hiatus, Ukraine resumed electricity supplies from Russia. However, in April 2020, the energy regulator banned such imports. On September 29, 2021, the National Commission of Ukraine, which carries out state regulation in the fields of energy and utilities, extended the ban on the import of electricity from Russia and Belarus until November 1. In February, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba announced that Kiev would disconnect from the Belarusian Russian energy system by the end of 2023 and integrate into the European one.
At the end of October, a competition was held to purchase capacity for importing electricity from Russia, but it means that the companies have only a theoretical opportunity to buy it in Russia and Belarus. However, the acting head of the trading block “InterAO” (operator of export – import of electricity) Alexandra Panina noted that the company does not carry out supplies with the Ukrainian side.
Coal situation
In addition, Galushchenko stated that the situation with the availability of coal in Ukraine is stable due to regular supplies of imported fuel. Serious power outages are not expected, he noted.
“Situation [с углем] is now stable. We see that there is an increase in warehouses: the warehouse has increased by about 15%. According to him, six ships with imported coal have already come to Ukraine, which supplied about 400 thousand tons of fuel, ”the minister assured. 300 thousand tons of coal for domestic generation “, – said the head of the department.
Galushchenko claims that the situation in Ukraine is calm with electricity supply as well. “No rolling blackouts are taking place and are not planned,” the minister is sure. According to him, Ukraine feels normal from the point of view of the Energy System as a whole, it will go through the heating season again, and no increase in tariffs is expected. “We control the situation in the energy sphere, and the state understands how and how to resolve any issues in the energy sphere,” – Galushchenko.
At the same time, he accused Russia of importing coal only by sea. “Due to the actions of the Russian Federation, the transit of coal from Kazakhstan, and, accordingly, other routes, has virtually been completely stopped.” [поставок угля]accounts for today, rather than sea, today it is expected that not, “- she said, adding that a small amount of fuel is currently imported from Poland by land.
In early November, the head of the Verkhovna Rada’s Committee on Energy and Housing and Utilities, Andrei Gerus, accused the Russian Federation of blocking rail coal supplies to Ukraine from Kazakhstan. However, Russian Railways denied these allegations, stressing that “there are no artificial restrictions on the part of Russian Railways in the transportation of goods from Kazakhstan.” At the same time, there was an increased demand for the transportation of coal products in the western direction from the Russian side and from the Kazakh shippers. In turn, the ministries of industry and development infrastructure of Kazakhstan also explained that “Russia has not blocked the supply of coal, but there are some restrictions on the use of infrastructure on the Russian side.”
Earlier in Ukraine, it says that the country is experiencing an acute shortage of coal at power plants, which could threaten rolling blackouts. On December 17, the head of Naftogaz, Yuri Vitrenko, argued that the country’s fuel reserves are critically small. The shortage of coal led to the shutdown of 20 units and one building of the TPP and TPP of Ukraine.