Ukrainian producers of electricity from renewable sources (RES) produced 222.6 million kWh in the period from April 5 to April 11, which is 17.2% more than the previous week, while electricity consumption in the country decreased by 0.9%, to 2.86 billion kWh.
According to the recent data of NPC Ukrenergo, the average daily electricity consumption on weekdays compared to the previous week decreased by 0.4% (to 416 million kWh), and on weekends by 2.2% (to 387.4 billion kWh).
Ukrenergo, in order to balance the power system in the face of surplus, on Saturday and Sunday of April 10 and April 11, gave dispatch commands to unload RES generation with a total capacity of 4,341 GW per two days.
“One of the main reasons for this was the decrease in electricity consumption during the specified weekend by 2.2% due to seasonal warming [from plus 5 degrees Celsius, on the weekend of the previous week to plus 8.8 degrees Celsius on April 10],” Ukrenergo said on its website.
According to the company, due to the warming, the volumes of electricity production by solar power plants and wind power plants have also significantly increased during the daytime, which accounts for the “decrease” of consumption. For example, on April 10 at 10:00, the RES capacity was 2.8 GW, while on weekdays in the same week it was 1.3 GW, and on the previous Saturday, April 3 it amounted to 2.1 GW.
“To balance the power system during periods of reduced consumption and at the same time intensive generation at solar and wind power plants, the dispatch center of Ukrenergo issued all possible commands for unloading, including at the request of manufacturers within the balancing market, and all available reserves have been used, except for RES producers. Also, all possibilities for increasing consumption by operating the pumped storage power plant in pumping mode have been exhausted, the limit volumes of imports in the Integrated Power System of Ukraine have been reduced to 0,” Ukrenergo said.
The capacity of facilities generating electricity from renewable sources of energy in Ukraine by the end of 2019 could reach 5.473 GW, which is 2.6 times (by 3.356 GW) more than at the end of 2018.
This is evidenced by the presentation posted on the website of the National Commission for Energy, Housing and Utilities Services Regulation (NCER).
Over the year, the total capacity of wind farms will be 1.136 GW (2.1 times more than the amount established at the end of 2018), solar stations some 4.087 GW (three times more), biomass some 140 MW (42.8% more), and small hydroelectric plants some 110 MW (up by 11.1%).
The estimated cost of energy produced from renewable energy sources in the period will double to UAH 28.016 billion.
According to the commission, as of September 10, the total installed capacity of renewable energy facilities was 3.387 GW. Since the beginning of this year, Ukraine has installed 1.27 GW of “green” capacities, which is 1.7 times more than for the whole of 2018.
Annual production of electricity from renewable energy sources, taking into account objects commissioned until 2020, will exceed 7.5 billion kWh, while annual payments for energy resources at feed-in tariffs will be EUR1.3 billion, according to the presentation posted on the website of the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry.
It is reported that by the end of 2019 some 2.7 GW of renewable energy capacity will be additionally commissioned. Taking into account ‘green’ capacities put into operation by 2021, annual payments could amount to about EUR 1.8 billion, which corresponds to the payments made by Energoatom for 55% of electricity it generates (in 2018 prices).
The ministry said, with reference to the calculations of Ukrenergo, that additional costs to cover unbalances in the power system, which will arise due to the difficult predictability of alternative generation, could amount to EUR 300-900 million (depending on the price in the balancing market).
According to the ministry, in 2018, the total amount paid to producers of electricity from renewable energy sources on feed-in tariffs was EUR 560 million (including VAT), which corresponds to 7.9% of the total cost of electricity generated in the country with the share of sales being 1.9%
