The volume of electricity imports from Slovakia rose 27.3 percent on Sunday compared to Saturday to 4,427 MWh per day, according to data on the website of Continental Europe Transmission System Operators Network ENTSO-E.
According to the site, imports came in 16 hours a day from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. at capacities of 10-350 MW. The maximum allowed cross-sectional capacity for imports in the Slovak direction is 350 MW, and on Sunday it was at that capacity for three hours. A total of 10 hours recorded capacity in excess of 300 MW.
At the same time, imports for Monday dropped almost 10 times to 476 MWh per day.
At the same time, according to ENTSO-E data, power exports to Poland, after Monday’s weekend absence, were carried out for nine night and day hours at a capacity of 200 MW – a total of 1,800 MWh per day.
For Moldova, no data on both imports and exports have been available since early June.
As previously reported, electricity supplies from Slovakia were planned at 7.1 thousand MWh per day on June 3 and 7.5 thousand MWh per day on June 4. For comparison, during the first two days of June just under 1.5 thou. MWh was received. A record number of traders participated in the auctions to allocate cross-section capacity on those days – 16 and 17 traders, respectively. Nevertheless, on Saturday, traders absorbed only half of the redeemed cross-section, supplying 3,477 MWh of electric power per day.
Vitaliy Butenko, head of the Energy Company of Ukraine (EKU), commented on the traders’ activity over the weekend: “At the weekend, prices in Slovakia are significantly lower than electricity prices in Ukraine. This trend has been observed for several weeks in a row, which makes it possible to provide additional amounts of electricity to support the Ukrainian energy system.
Czech President Petr Pavel together with Slovak President Zuzana Chaputova arrived in Ukraine on a visit.
“With Zuzana Chaputova, we both understand the value of freedom and justice. It is hard to see with our own eyes that Ukrainians are paying the highest price for it. With the blood and lives of its citizens. In fighting the aggressor, he defends what we have in common. That’s why we will support them,” Pavel wrote on Twitter, showing a picture with the president of Slovakia in front of the destroyed building.
For its part, the Czech media outlet Denikn reported that the Slovak president and her Czech counterpart Petr Pavel arrived in Kiev early this morning.
This is the first visit of the Czech head of state to Ukraine since 2013.
Pavel and Chaputova will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister Denys Shmygal, and will also visit cities liberated from Russian occupation near the capital.
A meeting with Crimean Tatar representatives Mustafa Dzhemiliev and Refat Chubarov is also scheduled.
Chaputova also later tweeted about the joint visit to Ukraine.
“Our first joint visit abroad with Peter Paul to Ukraine with a message of friendship, solidarity and support. Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Ukraine share parts of a common history – and we also share our common future,” she stressed.
The Czech TV channel ČT24 reported that the Czech and Slovak presidents visited Irpen, then went to Borodyanka. In addition, the Czech president then headed to Bucha.
Ukrzaliznytsia JSC has imposed a conventional ban on the transportation of food products to Slovakia, the company’s website says.
“It is forbidden to accept for transportation of cargo for the carrier JSC “ZSSK Cargo”, – noted in a note to the convention.
The ban applies to a large list of products: grains, pulses, oilseeds, vegetables, fruit, sugar, alcohol, honey and more.
The restriction came into force on April 19, 2023 and will remain in force until it is lifted.
We shall remind you that “Ukrzaliznytsia” introduced several conventions on food imports to Poland. At the same time, more than 3 thousand freight cars with agricultural products are heading to this country.
Romania, Hungary and Slovakia will not limit the transit of agricultural products from Ukraine, but negotiations continue on the issue of imports into the countries’ territory. Imports into Poland in transit mode will resume with a T1 declaration, with the use of the SENT system to track the movement of cargo through Poland and cargo seals, said Agrarian Policy Minister Mykola Solsky at an extraordinary meeting of the Coordinating Council under the Agrarian Policy Ministry on Tuesday evening.
According to him, shipments of agricultural products, which will be delivered to Poland in transit, will continue to move across the country’s territory at 00:00 on April 21, accompanied by Polish customs officers.
The issue of transit by rail with the transshipment from wide-rail wagons (for tracks 1520 mm) to narrow-rail (for tracks 1435 mm) is still open. Market participants are expected to receive details of the procedure tomorrow at the Coordinating Council of the Ministry of Agriculture, which is scheduled for 10:30 a.m.
The ban on imports of agricultural products in accordance with the list in the annex to the order of the Minister of Development and Technology of Poland Waldemar Buda from April 15, 2023 has not been canceled.
Earlier it was reported that Ukraine and Poland agreed on the resumption of transit of banned for importation agricultural products: it will work at night from April 20 to April 21, 2023. Additional control measures will be applied to the transit. According to the Ministry of Agriculture of Poland, customs, tax and other services will accompany the transport to its destination. In addition, the SENT mechanism and electronic seals will be applied, by means of which each consignment of goods will be tracked.
Poland on April 15, after the farmers’ congress, made a unilateral decision to temporarily prohibit the import of any agricultural products from Ukraine until June 30, 2023. This happened despite the fact that on July 7, a bilateral agreement was reached with Ukraine on the temporary suspension of exports of only four crops – wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower, while transit continued, but with stricter conditions, which the parties planned to agree on quickly.
Hungary and Slovakia made similar decisions afterwards.
Slovakia has handed over to Ukraine all 13 MiG-29 fighter jets that were promised, the press service of the Ministry of Defense of the Slovak Republic reports.
“Slovakia has already handed over all 13 MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine. After four units were piloted by Ukrainian pilots in March this year, the remaining nine units were also successfully handed over to Ukrainian forces,” the statement posted on the website on Monday said.
Slovakia’s Defense Minister Jaroslav Nagy noted that “this transfer was carried out by land, taking into account the maximum possible safety.” He also expressed his gratitude to “all the components involved, because in such cases it is a really important and complex logistical operation.”
Nagy emphasized that the MiG-29 fighters “represent a significant support for Ukraine” against the Russian aggressor and to protect human lives.
“In addition, unlike our neighbor, these aircraft were unsuitable for us. We are doing the right thing,” the minister said.
Ukraine on April 17, may start exporting electricity to Slovakia in the amount of 200 MW per hour, said NEC “Ukrenergo”.
According to its message in the Telegram channel on Saturday, the relevant auction for the allocation of capacity of interstate sections in the direction of Slovakia was held today for the delivery date of April 17.
The auction allocated 100 percent of the available capacity on that direction to four bidders.
According to Ukrenergo’s auction platform, DTEK Zakhidenergo (115-135 MW per hour), DE Trading (47-49 MW per hour, Le Trading Ukraine (5-20 MW per 18 hours), TES (20 MW per hour) shared all 200 MW of the section.
At the same time, for the first time since the opening of exports since April 11, the companies did not just book the section, but competed on the price for it. As a result, the minimum price per MWh was 307.5 UAH/MWh, while the maximum was 1.3 thou UAH/MWh.
In total, companies in 24 hours on Monday have to pay almost 3.4 million UAH for the cross-section to Poland.
At the same time, electricity exports to Moldova rose by 59.2% on Saturday to 1,777 MWh, and to Poland, after a two-day break, to 1,775 MWh per day, according to data on the website of the continental European Network of System Operators ENTSO-E.
According to the information on the website, supplies to Moldova will be carried out 18 hours a day with a minimum of 99 MW and a maximum of 130 MW, while supplies to Poland will be 75 MW at all hours, except for the first hour of the day, which was 50 MW.
As of April 15, 289-290 MW of the offered 650 MW of the hourly capacity of the section to Moldova were booked by 6 companies: Ukrhydroenergo PJSC (100 MW for each hour), D. Trading (99 MW per hour), Artlex Energy (40 MW per hour), DE Trading (30 MW per hour), ERU Trading (20 MW per hour) and EES (1 MW per 4 hours). The state energy trader “EKU”, which used to book 150 MW per hour for several days, did not participate in the auction this time.
As reported, exports to Moldova were 150 MWh on April 11, 497 MWh per day on April 12, 965 MWh on April 13 and 1116 MWh on April 14. Poland has so far only been supplied with 1,625 MWh on April 12. At that time, DTEK Zakhidenergo reserved all of the offered 75 MWh per hour.
After a break on April 13-14, this company booked the same capacity for April 15.
The Ministry of Energy resumed electricity exports by a decision of April 7, after which the NEC Ukrenergo began auctioning cross-section capacity for exports to Moldova and Poland, and decided to open exports to Slovakia.
The Ministry of Energy notes that the export will be carried out in conditions of a surplus of electric power and only if the priority of supplies to Ukrainian consumers is observed. Exports have been halted since October 11 after the start of massive attacks on the energy system.
The maximum throughput allowed by ENTSO-E for electricity exports to Europe is 400 MW. “Ukrenergo is working with its European colleagues on the possibility of increasing this volume.
