MOSCOW, April 10. /TASS/. Ukraine will not be able to fully restore its energy generating capacity in the near future and will have to increase electricity imports and introduce regular power cuts, said Vladimir Omelchenko, director of energy programs at the Razumkov Center.
"The situation is very challenging, and there is no time to resolve it. So, most likely, we will try to increase imports, probably we will have to introduce schedules of planned power cuts," he was quoted as saying by the RBC-Ukraine news outlet.
Omelchenko said Ukraine is unlikely to be able to reinstate the volume of energy generation to the level that existed before March 22 by the start of winter, so the capacity shortage in the country's energy system will remain at the level of 2-3 GW.
He also said that, given the lack of funds to restore the energy sector, Kiev will have to abandon plans to build new reactors for nuclear power plants for the time being.
In late January, Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko said on television that Ukraine plans to start building large reactors for nuclear power plants in cooperation with the US in 2024. For example, the Japanese business daily Nikkei reported in February that Ukraine plans to build four new reactors at the Khmelnitskaya nuclear power plant over the next five years. According to the report, Kiev plans to resume construction of the third and fourth reactors at the plant, and then to start building two more by the end of 2024. The newspaper cited Galushchenko as saying that he plans to cooperate with Japanese companies as part of the project. It was reported that Ukraine plans to build a total of nine reactors using the Westinghouse AP1000 technology.
Damage to Ukrainian energy system
On 6 April, the Ukrainian energy minister told Bloomberg the country’s energy industry suffered significant damage in the area of electricity generation and transmission. According to the official, the value of the damage is being verified and could reach billions of dollars. Earlier, Mikhail Podolyak, an adviser to the chief of staff of the Ukrainian president's office, said that the Kanevskaya HPP, the Dneproges power plant, and the Zmievskaya TPP sustained damage. According to the DTEK energy company, the company lost 80% of its generating capacity, with five out of its six TPPs seriously damaged.
On March 22 and 29, the Russian Defense Ministry said it delivered strikes, some of which employed high-precision weapons, on Ukraine's energy, air defense and defense industry sites.