The electricity prices for industrial consumers in Ukraine are two times higher than in Eastern Europe, according to the data of the Market Operator as of April 1, 2020.
According to the following websites https://www.oree.com.ua/ and https://www.nordpoolgroup.com/maps/#/nordic, in particular, the base cost of electricity for Ukrainian industrial consumers is EUR 51.01 per MWh, for Polish is EUR 30.23, for Romanian is EUR 25.69, for Hungarian is EUR 25.78, and for Slovak is EUR24.1.
The cost of electricity for daylight hours in Ukraine is EUR 58.85 per MWh, while in Poland it costs EUR 31.7, in Romania and Hungary is EUR 26.81, in Slovakia is EUR 24.35.
According to Nord Pool, the European power exchange, the tariffs are even lower in Western Europe. Thus, the cost of electricity in Benelux is EUR 22.5 per MWh, in France is EUR 21.86, in Germany is EUR 19.95.
The countries of the Scandinavian Peninsula, under support of national economies during coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, reduced electricity prices to minimum levels. Thus, the tariffs in Norway, Sweden and Denmark dropped to EUR 4.58 per MWh.
As Ukrainian industrial company Interpipe said earlier on Wednesday, April 1, in the last week of March in Ukraine rise in price of electricity for industrial consumers was recorded, while the tariff increased from UAH 1.3 per kWh to unprecedented UAH 1.68 per kWh, or 35% compared to February.
At the same time, Interpipe urged Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal and the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission to take the necessary regulatory measures to stabilize the electricity market. The government needs to take measures to prevent the rise in electricity prices by one of the key market players – National Nuclear Generating Company Energoatom, the group said in a statement.
“Amid COVID-19 pandemic, the governments of Europe and the United States are developing plans to support industry, introduce additional tools to stabilize the business. The situation is opposite in Ukraine. We, as a business, solve the problems of transferring employees, providing them with protective equipment, and purchase equipment for local hospitals. All this is amid falling volumes of orders. In response, we get a 35% increase in electricity prices and, as a result, a significant deterioration in our competitiveness in the falling market,” Interpipe Chief Financial Officer Denys Morozov said.
Interpipe is one of the ten largest manufacturers of seamless pipes in the world, is the third largest producer of seamless-rolled railway wheels in the world.
Interpipe incorporates five key assets: PJSC Interpipe NTRP, Interpipe NMPP, Interpipe NIKO TUBE, Interpipe VTORMET, and Interpipe STEEL.
Ukraine in January-February 2020 increased its electricity exports by 33.7% or 362.5 million kWh year-over-year, to 1.438 billion kWh, the Energy and Environmental Protection Ministry of Ukraine has told Interfax-Ukraine. Electricity supplies from the Burshtyn TPP energy island to Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania rose by 56.6%, to 1.049 billion kWh.
Exports to Poland grew by 17.6%, to 299.9 million kWh.
Exports to Moldova fell by 41%, to 88.6 million kWh.
Ukrainian electricity was not exported to Belarus or Russia in 2018 or 2019.
Ukraine imported 1.112 billion kWh of electricity in January-February 2020, including 599.5 million kWh from Slovakia, 274.7 million kWh from Hungary, 141.9 million kWh from Belarus, 51.9 million kWh from the Russian Federation, and 43.4 million kWh from Romania.
Due to crossflows related to the parallel work of the united energy system in Ukraine and systems in bordering countries (accounted for under contracts signed by Energomarket), Ukraine imported 8.1 million kWh of energy from Russia and 100,000 kWh from Belarus.
The Ministry of Energy and Environmental Protection of Ukraine has included in the forecast balance of electricity generation in the Integrated Power System (IPS) of Ukraine for 2020 the growth of electricity imports at twice compared to the actual indicator of 2019, to 5.615 billion kWh.
According to the updated balance posted on the ministry’s website, electricity exports are also expected to grow by 30%, to 8.455 billion kWh.
The electricity generation will decrease by 1.2% compared with the actual indicators of 2019, to 152.105 billion kWh. In particular, nuclear power plants expect to reach 80.639 billion kWh of electricity generation (2.9% less compared to 2019), thermal power plants 42.129 billion kWh (6.2% less), combined heat and power plants and cogeneration plants 11.064 billion kWh (1.8% more), all hydroelectric power stations 5.088 billion (22% less), pumped storage plants 1.258 billion kWh (6.6% less), block stations 1.643 billion kWh (7% less), and alternative energy sources 10.284 billion kWh (85.6% more).
Thus, according to forecasts, the share of nuclear power plants of the structure of electricity generation in 2020 will be 53.02% (53.91% at the end of 2019), thermal power plants some 27.7% (29.17%), combined heat and power plants and cogeneration plants some 7.27% (7.06%), hydroelectric power stations some 3.35% (4.24%), pumped storage plants some 0.83% (0.87%), block stations some 1.08% (1.15%), and alternative energy sources some 6.8% (3.6%).
Electricity consumption in the country is expected to reach 147.517 billion kWh in 2020, which is 1.8% less compared to the actual indicators of 2019.
Electricity consumption of pumped storage plants in the pump mode is predicted to be 1.752 billion kWh (1.834 billion kWh in 2019).
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has set a task to Energy and Environment Protection Minister Oleksiy Orzhel to reduce coal and electricity imports.
“What kind of import can we talk about when the countries from which we import do not allow us to enter their markets?” the president said at the meeting of the workers of coal industry in Kyiv on Tuesday.
He said that import is possible exclusively regarding definite brands of coal, which are not extracted inside the country.
“Therefore, our coal, our miners, our electricity comes first,” Zelensky said, adding that there is no place for coal imports in the Ukrainian coal industry.
Ukraine in January 2020 imported 560.66 million kWh of electricity, which makes up 3.7% of the total electricity volume supplied to the country’s energy system, the press service of Ukrenergo has said. Thus, major imports of 449.73 million kWh (80.2%) were supplied to the Burshtyn Energy Island. In particular, 329.11 million kWh (73.18% of the total imports into this trade zone) was imported from Slovakia, which is 2.1 times more than the average monthly indicator in this direction in 2019. Imports from Hungary amounted to 97 million kWh (21.57%), Romania some 23.62 million kWh (5.25%).
“The growth in electricity imports from Slovakia is due to an increase from 400 MW to 600 MW of the capacity of interstate sections between Ukraine and Slovakia from the end of November 2019,” the report says.
In turn, imports to the country’s united energy system amounted to 110.9 million kWh (19.8% of the total imports), of which 93 million kWh (83.86%) were from Belarus, 17.9 million kWh (16.14%) from Russia.
Commenting on measures to ensure the operational safety of the energy system, Ukrenergo noted that in January imports to the united energy system were limited to 475.8 million kWh. The volume of restrictions from the Russian Federation amounted to 374.6 million kWh, from Belarus, respectively, 101.2 million kWh.
A biogas plant for processing plant waste and generating electricity is to be built in Kyiv, Kostiantyn Yalovy, the head of the standing commission on environmental policy at Kyiv City Council, has said.
“I haven’t written about a biogas plant in the capital for a long time. This is equipment that will be able to process plant waste in an environmentally friendly way, resulting in biogas and organic fertilizers,” he wrote on Facebook.
According to Yalovy, the corresponding draft order is being approved by Kyiv City State Administration.
According to the project, the customer of the construction will be municipal enterprise Kyivzelenbud, the design and estimate work will cost UAH 3 million.
“Biogas received will be generated in electricity and launched into the network at a feed-in tariff,” the official said.
