Ukraine needs to implement in the next 5-10 years a number of projects to increase the capacity and flexibility of the energy system, the volume of investments in which will amount to about $15 billion, the chairman of the board of the NEC Ukrenergo Volodymyr Kudrytskyy said.
“There will be countless more winters to come. And our crazy neighbor will not go anywhere from us. So we need to think not only about this winter, but also about the future. That is why we, as a system operator, have a calculated vision of what the optimal energy mix of our country will be for 5-7-10 years, what we should build to secure our facilities from massive shelling, and also to make the energy mix cheaper and cleaner. There is a certain investment menu,” Kudrytskyy said at a briefing at the Media Center in Kyiv on Friday.
According to him, the best defense for Ukrainian generation is dispersal of facilities, as well as their construction according to new technologies and green transition principles, without using expensive fuels like gas and coal.
According to his presentation, Ukraine will require 1.4 GW of new highly maneuverable thermal power plants in the coming years (now 0 GW), as well as 1.1 GW of biofuel-fired thermal power plants (now 0.3 GW). In addition, 3.8 GW of SES (now 6.2 GW), 4.5 GW of WPP (now 0.5 GW) and 0.8 GW of Energy Storage (now 0 GW) are to be added. At the same time, 2 GW of capacity is to be built at Dniester and Kanev HPPs (now 2 GW).
According to rough estimates, this will require $15 bln, of which the most can be invested in WPP – $5.4 bln. SES will cost $2.5 bln, TPP (both types) – $2.3 bln, SNPP – $1.2 bln, SHPP – $3.7 bln.
During the briefing, he added that additional nuclear power plant capacity would also be needed, expressing hope for the return of the Russian-occupied ZNPP.
“There are reserves to increase generation at existing NPPs, plans to build new units. They are long-term, but nuclear electricity will be in demand, especially when the withdrawal of coal-fired thermal power plants from the balance,” Kudrytskyy explained.
He pointed out that Ukrenergo made calculations with the help of specialized software to get a vision “how to build such a system, which would be ready at any time to meet the demand of consumers and be the cheapest of all such systems”.
At the same time, the head of the company emphasized that the calculation should be based on private investment.
