The Ministry of Energy of Ukraine announced a competitive selection of candidates for three positions of independent members of the supervisory board of Ukrenergo and instructed Ukrenergo to engage a professional consultant on personnel selection.
“The government remains fully committed to ensuring the independence, integrity and compliance with the highest professional standards of the new supervisory board. The selection of all members of the board – four independent and three representatives of the state – is to be completed by December 9,” the ministry said on Friday evening.
As reported, EU Ambassador to Ukraine Katarína Mathernová, regional heads of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and the business ombudsman in early September called for stopping the dismissal of the company’s head Volodymyr Kudrytsky until the election of the seventh member of the board.
However, Kudrytsky was dismissed, after which the independent members of the Ukrenergo supervisory board, former ENTSO-E Presidents Daniel Dobbeni and Peder Andreasen, called the dismissal politically motivated and decided to leave the supervisory board early.
In addition, the G7 ambassadors emphasized the importance of quickly organizing a selection procedure according to the standards of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for “competent and professional independent experts” to the Ukrenergo supervisory board.
A surplus of electricity was recorded in Ukraine’s energy system on Friday – its surplus was transferred to Poland’s energy system, the Energy Ministry said.
According to its information in a press release on Saturday, the surplus was transferred from 11.00 to 15.00 with a total supply of 1600 MWh.
As for the situation in the energy system today, two units of TPPs and one unit of CHPPs have gone into short-term repairs, at the same time, after the end of emergency works, a block and a building of thermal power plants have been connected to the grid.
There are 6 units of thermal generation in reserve, which will be activated in case of need, the Ministry of Energy noted.
For the current day, electricity imports are forecasted at 9,979 MWh, which is almost 4 times more than Friday’s figure. Exports to Moldova of 810 MWh are also expected. The last time exports were carried out in the first days of January.
The state-owned enterprise Ukrvuhillia on December 30 transferred UAH 500 million to state coal mining enterprises to pay wages to miners.
“Energoatom provided Ukrvuhillia with the corresponding funds as an interest-free financial assistance for the uninterrupted supply of coal to thermal generation facilities,” the press service of the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy said.
Electricity consumption in Ukraine, taking into account in-process losses in power grids, increased by 6.7% in January-May 2021 (by 4.163 billion kWh) compared to the same period in 2020, to 65.913 billion kWh, according to data from the Energy Ministry.
According to the calculations of Interfax-Ukraine, excluding in-process losses, electricity consumption for the specified period increased by 8.2% (by 4.073 billion kWh), to 53.761 billion kWh.
The country’s industry, excluding in-process losses, boosted electricity consumption by 7.3%, to 21.709 billion kWh. In particular, metallurgical industry consumed 11.853 billion kWh (4.6% more compared to January-May 2020), the fuel industry some 1.397 billion kWh (3.9% more), machine-building industry some 1.612 billion kWh (18.7% more), chemical and petrochemical some 1.83 billion kWh (12.1% more), food and processing some 1.746 billion kWh (1% more), building materials some 1.025 billion kWh (22.5% more), others some 2.247 billion kWh (12.4% more).
In addition, agricultural enterprises consumed 1.445 billion kWh (0.9% more), transport some 2.619 million kWh (8.2% more), construction some 501.1 million kWh (23.8% more).
In January-May 2021, the country’s population consumed 17.469 billion kWh (7.5% more), households some 6.384 billion kWh (8.1% more), other non-industrial consumers some 3.635 billion (18.8% more).
According to the results of the first five months, the share of industry in the total volume of electricity consumption decreased from 40.7% to 40.4%, while the share of the population increased from 32.7% to 32.5%.
In May 2021, electricity consumption, taking into account in-process losses, increased by 3.1% (by 338 million kWh) compared to the same month of 2020, to 11.183 billion kWh, excluding in-process losses, by 9.6% (by 848.8 million kWh), to 9.713 billion kWh.
The Ministry of Energy of Ukraine announced its entry into the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance to coordinate efforts in the context of the development of hydrogen energy.
“The European Commission has identified Ukraine as one of the priority partners in the future hydrogen economy of the European Union. Therefore, membership in the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance will help intensify our efforts to find potential partners for the implementation of projects for the production, transportation, storage and consumption of hydrogen,” Deputy Energy Minister Yaroslav Demchenkov is quoted in the ministry’s release as saying.
According to him, it is important for the Ministry of Energy to consult with a wide range of countries and companies that develop hydrogen energy in Europe.
On July 8, 2020, the European Commission published the Hydrogen Strategy for a Climate Neutral Europe and established the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance, which, in particular, includes national energy and transnational companies, research institutions, and the European Investment Bank. The members of the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance are such leading energy and industrial companies in Europe as Electricité de France (EDF), E.ON SE, BMW Group, General Electric, AREVA H2Gen, Airbus SAS, Alstom, BASF SE, Bosch Group and many others.
Earlier it was reported that more than 20 Ukrainian companies have already joined the EU hydrogen alliance, including Energoatom and Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine.
CLEAN HYDROGEN, ENERGY MINISTRY, EUROPEAN CLEAN HYDROGEN ALLIANCE
The Ministry of Energy of Ukraine plans to establish Industry Centre for Cybersecurity for critical infrastructure facilities in the Ukrainian energy sector.
As the Ministry’s press office reports, negotiations with partners on obtaining technical assistance are currently underway.
“International companies leading in the field of cybersecurity and digital transformation, such as, Microsoft, Cisco, HPE, Dell, McAfee, Huawei, Fortinet, Trend Micro, Micro Focus, Palo Alto Networks, have expressed interest in joining work together,” the ministry said.
In the near future, together with the International Cybersecurity University (ICU), it is planned to hold a meeting of the working group on the development of cyber defense of critical energy infrastructure facilities under the Ministry of Energy.
“The purpose of the meeting is to draw attention to cybersecurity issues in the energy sector, to establish closer cooperation with global companies and international partners, to develop a plan for the further development of the sectoral cybersecurity system,” the Ministry of Energy reported.
