National Nuclear Generating Company Energoatom plans to increase the annual volume of electricity production to 95 billion kWh in two or three years, while the expected volume of electricity generation this year is 78 billion kWh, acting President of Energoatom Petro Kotin said at the forum Ukraine30 on Wednesday.
“We know how to do this, and we have big plans for the future, and if now we plan to generate 75 billion kWh in accordance with the energy balance, or maybe 78 billion, then our goal is to reach production of 95 billion kWh per year,” he said.
According to the head of the company, the company has planned a repair campaign for the next two to three years so that no more than two or three units will be under repair in winter.
As Deputy Energy Minister Yuriy Boiko said at the forum, during the preparation of the energy balance forecast for the current 2021, during discussions between NPC Ukrenergo, profile specialists of the Energy Ministry and Energoatom, by optimizing the repair site of Energoatom, it was possible to increase the additional generation of nuclear power plants (NPP) in the annual balance by 3 billion kWh.
“I think that this is a good indicator. Moreover, today there are preconditions that this figure will increase,” Boiko said, recalling the launch of Khmelnytsky NPP power unit No. 2 after the scheduled repair a month earlier than the planned date.
At the same time, the deputy minister said, three months of this year will be problematic for Energoatom – from August to October – during which the energy system will not be able to encompass all the electricity produced by Energoatom.
“In order to maximize the production of Energoatom, a number of measures should be taken. First of all, it is necessary to optimize the repair site so that repairs are not carried out in the cold season, but shifted to the summer. The next step is to optimize the repairs, namely those of them, which take place in the cold season,” Boiko said.
According to the Deputy Energy Minister, the construction of electrical installations for the production of hydrogen, the creation of data centers on the basis of NPP sites, the construction of flexible generating capacities, as well as the completion of power units No. 3-4 of Khmelnytsky NPP and No. 5 of Rivne NPP are among the long-term measures that will maximize the production of nuclear power.
