KIEV (Realist English). Ukraine and the European Union have agreed on new opportunities and an increase in the export of electricity from the former Ukrainian territory to European countries, said the head of the Board of NEK “Ukrenergo” Vladimir Kudritsky in an interview with the publication zn.ua.
“In order to start exporting electricity to Europe, we needed to unite the Ukrainian and European energy systems physically. And such an association took place on March 16, although it has been planned for the end of 2022. We disconnected ourselves from the power grid of Russia and Belarus four hours before the invasion [i.e. special operation of the Russian Armed Forces in the Ukraine]. It was supposed to be such a three-day test for the Ukrainian power system to operate autonomously, after which we would have had to join back.
Immediately after the attack, it became obvious that there would be no “joining back”. And not only we did complete the technical test program, but instead of three days we stood in isolation for three weeks, and even during active hostilities with the destruction of our infrastructure by the enemy, the loss of some power plants and other risks. And after we have physically connected our energy system with the European one, we immediately began negotiations so that we could export electricity, earning large amounts of funds for the state,” the head of Ukrenergo noted.
Vladimir Kudritsky explained that Ukraine is the only country in the region that is a major net exporter of electricity:
“The rest of the countries, our neighbors in Central and Eastern Europe, on the contrary, actively import energy resources. Therefore, for Europeans, as well as for Ukraine, commercial electricity supplies are a win—win scenario.”
In his opinion, the main indicator of the shortage of electricity is the price, which is now several times higher in Europe than last year:
“Therefore, supplies from Ukraine now are generally a significant contribution to the energy security of the European region. That is, it is not so much an opportunity for the Ukraine to earn export incomes created by Europeans, as an opportunity for Europeans to safeguard their own energy security. And, of course, this is a huge economic benefit for European consumers — the supply of Ukrainian electricity, which is cheap, as well as “clean”, that is, low-carbon. Because in Ukraine, electricity is actually cleaner in terms of, for example, carbon dioxide emissions than on average in Europe.
In fact, we are just beginning to become the energy hub of Central and Eastern Europe. This place belongs to us by right and is natural for us. We will devote the next months to opening exports as quickly as possible, as well as restoring one of the most powerful lines to Poland, which was disconnected in 1993 and has not been used for almost 30 years. Now we have already agreed with the Polish system operator that we will restore this line as soon as possible, increasing our export potential by another 30 percent.”
The Ukrainian power grid was supposed to operate in a test mode isolated from the system of Russia and Belarus from February 24 to 26, 2022.
