KYIV. Aug 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine intends to speed up repairs on its thermal power plants and to increase the capacity of electricity supplies to Poland by 400 MW, Energy and Coal Industry Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Demchyshyn has said.
At the moment, the capacity of power supplies from Burshtyn thermal power plant to Poland is 600 MW, the ministry’s press service said quoting Demchyshyn.
Demchyshyn added that Ukraine currently itself imports electricity from Russia under the previously signed contract.
“The contract has worked exactly as planned – as insurance against force majeure, and imports will be stopped as soon as we restore our own capacity,” he stressed.
The minister also said that the group of experts left for private thermal power plants (TPPs) to check if the currently unscheduled repairs are expedient. The ministry is also conveying to DTEK the need to ensure a more even provision of its power plants with coal.
“Apart from the problems of the TPPs, we now have a very low production on hydroelectric power plants due to low water levels. The hydroelectric power plants on the Dnipro River generally have the lowest level of power generation in history. However, the lessons of the heating season were not in vain, and we are ready for this situation,” the minister summed up.
As reported, Poland imposed restrictions on electricity consumption due to heat.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk earlier instructed the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry in connection with the critical situation in the energy system of Poland to take urgent measures to ensure the highest technically possible supply of electricity to Polish power grids.
