Ukrenergo National Energy Company will finish construction of the Kreminska substation with a power capacity of 500/220 kV (Kreminna town in Luhansk region) by the end of May 2020, Ukrenergo operations director Volodymyr Kudrytsky said at a press conference in Kyiv.
“Kyiv Energy Construction Company in Ivano-Frankivsk, one of the biggest companies Ukrenergo is working with, won the bids in 2017. At present moment, it is building the facility. May 2020 is an expected date of completion of the building works,” he said.
Kudrytsky reminded that the term for completion of the works was scheduled for December 2018. However, these terms have been shifted over the Cabinet of Ministers’ delay to approve the design documentation and settling the issues with land acquisition. Kyiv Energy Construction Company in order not to waste time started to buy necessary equipment and machinery before the government approved the documentation.
According to company’s operation director, the cost of construction now totals UAH 1.3 billion, while the Cabinet of Ministers initially appraised it at UAH 1.7 billion.
He also reported that Ukrenergo was working over the project on increase of the capacities of Luhansk thermal power plant (TPP).
“To provide distribution of Luhansk TPP in full, at a moment we initiated building of another facility, it is on the stage of design. This is a 220 kV transmission line from Luhansk TPP to Yuvileina power substation,” he said.
As reported, construction of Kreminska substation launched two years ago.
The Kreminska substation will make it possible to synchronize the electricity supply system in the northern Donbas with Ukraine’s Integrated Power System (IPS) and provide a stable link to that system.
Consumers in the northern part of the Luhansk region are only supplied by coal-fired Luhanska TPP. Previously, the fuel was delivered to the station by rail through Russia, but today deliveries have ceased completely being blocked by the Russian Federation.
Now the station runs on gas, which is much more expensive than coal. This is economically disadvantageous. In addition, the station is located in close proximity to the war zone, and its continued operation is constantly under threat. These factors pose significant risks of complete shutdown of the Luhanska TPP. At the same time, due to damage to power grids as a result of hostilities, only two 110 kV transmission lines now connect the Luhanska power unit with the power grid of Ukraine. Their capacity, with no generation at the Luhansk TPP, is only 110MW. Meanwhile, the power unit’s consumption is from 140 MW at night to 220MW in the evening peak. Thus, if the operation of the Luhansk TPP stops in any reasons, the region won’t be provided with electricity as strongly as required.
