Electricity consumption in Ukraine in January-March 2020, taking into account in-process losses in power grids, fell by 5.6% (by 2.366 billion kWh) compared to January-March 2019, to 39.644 billion kWh, the Ministry of Energy and Environment Protection has told Interfax-Ukraine.
Excluding in-process losses, electricity consumption over the period decreased 3.6% (by 1.179 billion kWh), to 31.965 billion kWh.
The country’s industry, excluding in-process losses, reduced electricity consumption by 5.8%, to 12.429 billion kWh. In particular, metallurgical industry consumed 6.746 billion kWh (9.5% less compared to January-March 2019), fuel industry some 849.9 million kWh (6.6% less), machine building industry some 959.9 million kWh (14.2% less), chemical and petrochemical some 2.029 billion kWh (24.2% more), food and processing some 1.088 billion kWh (1.2% less), construction materials some 483.4 million kWh (2.1% less), and others some 1.283 billion kWh (0.8% down).
In addition, agricultural enterprises consumed 854.8 million kWh (4.2% less), transport some 1.708 billion kWh (6.8% less), and developers some 282.5 million kWh (7.6% down).
In January-March 2020, the country’s population consumed 10.407 billion kWh (0.9% up), households some 4.138 billion kWh (6.7% down), and other non-industrial consumers some 2.145 billion kWh (1.3% down).
The share of industry in total electricity consumption in January-March 2020 fell from 39.8% to 38.9%, and the share of the population grew to 32.6% from 31.1%.
In March 2020, electricity consumption, taking into account in-process losses, decreased by 7% (by 948.2 million kWh) compared to the same month of 2019, to 12.611 billion kWh, excluding in-process losses it fell by 3.9% (417.8 million kWh), to 10.374 billion kWh.
Electricity consumption during quarantine, from March 12 to March 31, 2020, decreased by 7.5% compared to the same period in 2019, to 7.911 billion kWh, Ukrenergo transmission system operator reported to Interfax-Ukraine.
The average temperature for the indicated period was 5.6 degrees above zero compared to the temperature 4.9 degrees above zero in 2019.
Within the first week of quarantine, March 12-18 (the average temperature was 5 degrees above zero), Ukraine consumed 2.838 billion kWh, which is 6.8% less than within the same dates in 2019 (at an average temperature of 3.7 degrees above zero) and 0.9% higher than within the previous week, March 5-11 (8.5 degrees above zero).
Consumption within March 19-25 amounted to 2.786 billion kWh (at temperature of 4 degrees above zero), which is 6.6% lower than within the same period in 2019 (at temperature of 5.5 degrees above zero) and 1.8% lower than within the first quarantine week, and 0.9% less than the week before quarantine.
According to the results of the last six days of March (8.2 degrees above zero), Ukraine consumed 2.287 billion kWh, which is 9.2% lower than within the same period in 2019 (5.4 degrees above zero).
In general, according to recent data, electricity consumption in March at an average temperature of 6.4 degrees above zero was 12.414 billion kWh, which is 7.2% less than on March 2019, when the average temperature was 4.7 degrees above zero.
Earlier, Ukrenergo transmission system operator predicted that electricity consumption in Ukraine in March amid quarantine measures could decrease by 8.2% compared to the same period in 2019. The operator said that in addition to quarantine, which restricted the work of a number of enterprises in different industries of the economy, electricity consumption will also decrease due to such seasonal factors as warm weather and a decrease in heat supply.
The electricity prices for industrial consumers in Ukraine are two times higher than in Eastern Europe, according to the data of the Market Operator as of April 1, 2020.
According to the following websites https://www.oree.com.ua/ and https://www.nordpoolgroup.com/maps/#/nordic, in particular, the base cost of electricity for Ukrainian industrial consumers is EUR 51.01 per MWh, for Polish is EUR 30.23, for Romanian is EUR 25.69, for Hungarian is EUR 25.78, and for Slovak is EUR24.1.
The cost of electricity for daylight hours in Ukraine is EUR 58.85 per MWh, while in Poland it costs EUR 31.7, in Romania and Hungary is EUR 26.81, in Slovakia is EUR 24.35.
According to Nord Pool, the European power exchange, the tariffs are even lower in Western Europe. Thus, the cost of electricity in Benelux is EUR 22.5 per MWh, in France is EUR 21.86, in Germany is EUR 19.95.
The countries of the Scandinavian Peninsula, under support of national economies during coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, reduced electricity prices to minimum levels. Thus, the tariffs in Norway, Sweden and Denmark dropped to EUR 4.58 per MWh.
As Ukrainian industrial company Interpipe said earlier on Wednesday, April 1, in the last week of March in Ukraine rise in price of electricity for industrial consumers was recorded, while the tariff increased from UAH 1.3 per kWh to unprecedented UAH 1.68 per kWh, or 35% compared to February.
At the same time, Interpipe urged Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal and the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission to take the necessary regulatory measures to stabilize the electricity market. The government needs to take measures to prevent the rise in electricity prices by one of the key market players – National Nuclear Generating Company Energoatom, the group said in a statement.
“Amid COVID-19 pandemic, the governments of Europe and the United States are developing plans to support industry, introduce additional tools to stabilize the business. The situation is opposite in Ukraine. We, as a business, solve the problems of transferring employees, providing them with protective equipment, and purchase equipment for local hospitals. All this is amid falling volumes of orders. In response, we get a 35% increase in electricity prices and, as a result, a significant deterioration in our competitiveness in the falling market,” Interpipe Chief Financial Officer Denys Morozov said.
Interpipe is one of the ten largest manufacturers of seamless pipes in the world, is the third largest producer of seamless-rolled railway wheels in the world.
Interpipe incorporates five key assets: PJSC Interpipe NTRP, Interpipe NMPP, Interpipe NIKO TUBE, Interpipe VTORMET, and Interpipe STEEL.
Ukraine in January-February 2020 increased its electricity exports by 33.7% or 362.5 million kWh year-over-year, to 1.438 billion kWh, the Energy and Environmental Protection Ministry of Ukraine has told Interfax-Ukraine. Electricity supplies from the Burshtyn TPP energy island to Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania rose by 56.6%, to 1.049 billion kWh.
Exports to Poland grew by 17.6%, to 299.9 million kWh.
Exports to Moldova fell by 41%, to 88.6 million kWh.
Ukrainian electricity was not exported to Belarus or Russia in 2018 or 2019.
Ukraine imported 1.112 billion kWh of electricity in January-February 2020, including 599.5 million kWh from Slovakia, 274.7 million kWh from Hungary, 141.9 million kWh from Belarus, 51.9 million kWh from the Russian Federation, and 43.4 million kWh from Romania.
Due to crossflows related to the parallel work of the united energy system in Ukraine and systems in bordering countries (accounted for under contracts signed by Energomarket), Ukraine imported 8.1 million kWh of energy from Russia and 100,000 kWh from Belarus.
The Ministry of Energy and Environmental Protection of Ukraine has included in the forecast balance of electricity generation in the Integrated Power System (IPS) of Ukraine for 2020 the growth of electricity imports at twice compared to the actual indicator of 2019, to 5.615 billion kWh.
According to the updated balance posted on the ministry’s website, electricity exports are also expected to grow by 30%, to 8.455 billion kWh.
The electricity generation will decrease by 1.2% compared with the actual indicators of 2019, to 152.105 billion kWh. In particular, nuclear power plants expect to reach 80.639 billion kWh of electricity generation (2.9% less compared to 2019), thermal power plants 42.129 billion kWh (6.2% less), combined heat and power plants and cogeneration plants 11.064 billion kWh (1.8% more), all hydroelectric power stations 5.088 billion (22% less), pumped storage plants 1.258 billion kWh (6.6% less), block stations 1.643 billion kWh (7% less), and alternative energy sources 10.284 billion kWh (85.6% more).
Thus, according to forecasts, the share of nuclear power plants of the structure of electricity generation in 2020 will be 53.02% (53.91% at the end of 2019), thermal power plants some 27.7% (29.17%), combined heat and power plants and cogeneration plants some 7.27% (7.06%), hydroelectric power stations some 3.35% (4.24%), pumped storage plants some 0.83% (0.87%), block stations some 1.08% (1.15%), and alternative energy sources some 6.8% (3.6%).
Electricity consumption in the country is expected to reach 147.517 billion kWh in 2020, which is 1.8% less compared to the actual indicators of 2019.
Electricity consumption of pumped storage plants in the pump mode is predicted to be 1.752 billion kWh (1.834 billion kWh in 2019).
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has set a task to Energy and Environment Protection Minister Oleksiy Orzhel to reduce coal and electricity imports.
“What kind of import can we talk about when the countries from which we import do not allow us to enter their markets?” the president said at the meeting of the workers of coal industry in Kyiv on Tuesday.
He said that import is possible exclusively regarding definite brands of coal, which are not extracted inside the country.
“Therefore, our coal, our miners, our electricity comes first,” Zelensky said, adding that there is no place for coal imports in the Ukrainian coal industry.
