In a few days, Ukraine will start exporting electricity to the synchronous zone of Continental Europe, Volodymyr Kudrytsky, Board Chairman of NPC Ukrenergo, has said on his Facebook page on Tuesday.
“ENTSO-E confirmed on June 27 that Ukrenergo, together with TSOs [Transmission System Operators] of neighboring countries, has successfully met six technical conditions for opening the first 100 MW of electricity exports from Ukraine to Europe. Ukraine can also import this amount of European electricity if necessary,” Kudrytsky wrote.
According to him, today Ukrenergo will hold an open auction for access to the interstate section, at which all electricity producers and other participants will be able to participate.
“This decision finally breaks the ‘aquarium’ of the closed Ukrainian energy market and at the same time brings us closer to full integration into the European energy space,” the head of Ukrenergo stressed.
He noted that in terms of the timing of the opening of exports from the power system newly attached to ENTSO-E, this is an unprecedentedly quick decision. Under the 2017 synchronization agreement, commercial exports from the Ukrainian power grid were to open only one year after the trial synchronization. Ukraine has reached an agreement to open commercial electricity exchanges in three months.
Kudrytsky also saw a certain symbolic coincidence in the date of the ENTSO-E decision on Ukrainian exports.
“Exactly five years ago, Ukrenergo signed the historic agreement with ENTSO-E, thanks to which the Ukrainian energy system is now synchronized with the European one. This agreement set the conditions for future integration with the continental European energy grid, which was to take place in 2023. We achieved the result a year and a half earlier,” the head of Ukrenergo summed up.
Andriy Gerus, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Energy, Housing and Utility Services, said at a press conference on Tuesday that Ukraine would start exporting electricity to the synchronous zone of Continental Europe from July 1.
At the same time, Minister of Energy Herman Haluschenko specified that the export of electricity would start on June 30.
The same information was posted on its website by ENTSO-E.
“The start of commercial electricity exchange with the Ukraine/Moldova power system is scheduled for June 30 at the Ukraine-Romania connection. It is expected that electricity trading on other connections [Ukraine-Slovakia, Ukraine-Hungary and Moldova-Romania] will start later,” the network said in a release on Tuesday.
According to him, the total trading capacity at the first stage will be set at 100 MW. After this initial phase, a gradual increase in trading capacity will be regularly assessed based on grid stability and security considerations, ENTSO-E explained.
Some 47.38% of electricity sold on the day ahead market (DAM) and intraday market (IDM) in May was produced from hydropower, and 20.34% from nuclear fuel, according to a report by JSC Market Operator on environmental aspects for May 2022.
“The share of electricity sold on DAM and IDM, produced from solar energy, amounted to 17.24% in May, from coal – 5.66%, from natural gas – 4.32%, from wind energy – 1.61%, from biogas – 0.99%, from biomass – 0.25%, and from fuel oil – 0.18%,” the report says.
According to the published data, in May, 1.63% of electricity was sold on the spot market, the source of which is not determined, and the origin of another 0.4% of electricity is unknown due to the failure of some market participants to provide relevant information, the company noted.
As follows from the report, in total, in May 2022, 31.5% less electricity was sold on DAM and IDM compared to April – 528,284 MWh versus 770,883 MWh, respectively, in 56.5% less than in March (1.243 million MWh), 88.5% less than in February (4.607 million MWh) and 89.3% less than in January 2022 (4.924 million MWh).
According to Market Operator, out of the total volume of electricity generated in January-May this year, 32.35% was produced from nuclear fuel, 26.58% – from coal, 14.33% – from hydropower, 7.72% – from natural gas, 4.74% – from wind energy, 3.74% – from solar energy, 2.06% – from fuel oil, 0.55% – from biogas, and 0.33% – from biomass.
Ukrenergo offers several options for distributing funds that will be received by the company from the sale at auctions of interstate cross-sections for commercial electricity exports to Europe, Head of the operator Volodymyr Kudrytsky said at a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.
According to him, the potential supply of generating capacities of Ukraine, which can be released and directed to the export of electricity, is calculated in gigawatts. At the same time, according to the current legislation, the proceeds from Ukrenergo shall be directed to the development of interconnectors.
“Given the scale of potential income, we simply won’t be able to use so many funds in the short term. In such a situation, various mechanisms for socializing this money into the energy sector are possible. For example, we have debts on the balancing market, and we can pay off debts over a certain period of time proportionally to all market participants using this money,” Kudrytsky said.
The head of Ukrenergo said that energy companies would be able to stabilize their work by using the money received to prepare for the upcoming winter, purchase fuel and carry out repairs.
National Nuclear Generating Company Energoatom has signed an export contract with the Moldovan state company Energocom, according to which it plans to supply 85,200 MWh of electricity to Moldova in June at a price of $77 per 1 MWh.
Energoatom has great potential to increase the production of electricity, so its export to Moldova, and subsequently to the neighboring EU countries, is an extremely promising area of the company’s trading activities,” the company said on its Telegram channel on Friday.
At the same time, thanks to the export, Energoatom will receive an additional source for financing of public service obligations (PSO), according to which the population is supplied with electricity.
As Energoatom said, Ukrainian exports will allow Moldova to diversify electricity supplies and strengthen the country’s energy security, since its power consumption largely depends on generation at the Moldavskaya State District Power Plant of Russia.
According to the results of daily auctions, on June 4 and on June 5, Energoatom bought 150 MW of interstate section towards Moldova on a flat schedule, another 200 MW on a flat schedule was bought by PJSC Ukrhydroenergo, which has been exporting electricity to Moldova since May 12.
Prime Minister Denis Shmygal says that by the end of the year Ukraine plans to expand the capabilities of Ukrainian energy companies, and will be able to export to the European Union about 800 MW of electricity per day.
“In mid-March, Ukraine joined the European network ENTSO-E ahead of schedule… Ukraine is already exporting its electricity to Europe,” Shmygal told a government meeting on Tuesday.
According to the Prime Minister, in April, electricity exports to Poland increased by 35% compared to pre-war January.
“By the end of the year, we plan to expand the capabilities of Ukrainian energy companies, and will be able to export to the EU about 800 MW of electricity per day. This will help Europe to abandon the consumption of Russian coal and reduce the consumption of Russian gas, “he said.
In January-April 2022, Ukraine increased its revenue from electricity exports by 2.6 times (by $87.11 million) compared to the same period in 2021, to $141.05 million, according to the State Customs Service.
According to Interfax-Ukraine estimates, over the four months, electricity was supplied to Slovakia for $48.968 million, Hungary – for $40.408 million, Romania – for $29.274 million, other countries – for $22.4 million.
In April this year, electricity export revenue amounted to $1.108 million compared to $31.125 million in April 2021.
In addition, Ukraine in January-April 2022 imported electricity for $102.114 million against $54.321 million for the same period in 2021, in particular from Belarus – for $100.414 million, Slovakia – for $873,000, Romania – for $491,000, other countries – for $336,000.
In April this year, Ukraine imported electricity for $1,000 against $6.926 million in April 2021.
