Ukraine says it last lost more than 9 gigawatts of power plant capacity across the country due to missile and drone attacks following the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022.
“The situation is very serious,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said at a government meeting on Tuesday. Grid operator Ukrenergo was forced to carry out scheduled power cuts due to power shortages.
In Kiev, electricity was turned off in several city neighborhoods in the afternoon because the maximum allowable consumption was exceeded.
The government’s main tasks now are improving air defense and repairing damaged power plants, Shmyhal said. The energy system must become more decentralized and energy use more efficient, he added. “Our objective is to save at all levels: from large companies to small houses and apartments”, said the prime minister.
The import of generators, solar cells and smaller power plants will be subsidized. Kiev also counts on greater help from international partners. “We are working to expand imports from Europe to 2.2 gigawatts,” Shmyhal said.
The Russian military has been targeting thermal and hydroelectric plants in Ukraine since March.
The base load of Ukraine’s power generation is provided by the three nuclear power plants that are still under government control.
Up to 1.7 gigawatts of additional power can currently be imported from neighboring EU states and Moldova. For most Ukrainians, however, hours-long power cuts are now part of everyday life.
