Ukraine imported electricity from Romania — in test mode, with a capacity of 1 MW
On November 27, the state-owned energy trader JSC “Energy Company of Ukraine” in a test mode imported non-commercial volumes of electricity from Romania with a capacity of 1 MW for two hours (at 9:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.).
The company acquired the right to import electricity at the auction of NEC “Ukrenergo” on November 24. The state energy trader carried out preliminary tests of electricity imports from Slovakia on October 27 and November 19, 2022.
On November 23, Russia attacked Ukraine’s energy system for the last time — most of the territory was left without electricity, heat, and water. Communication problems were also observed. Due to a decrease in the frequency in the energy system of Ukraine, emergency protection was triggered at the Rivne, South Ukrainian and Khmelnytsky NPPs, as a result of which all power units were automatically disconnected.
Currently, the country is gradually restoring energy supplies, but they do not rule out the possibility of repeated missile strikes on the energy infrastructure. Yesterday’s successful testing shows that we will be able to successfully import electricity and this can become an additional tool for stabilizing the energy system of Ukraine.
On February 24, a few hours before the start of the war, the national energy system was disconnected from the Russian and Belarusian energy systems, and on March 16, Ukraine joined the united energy system of continental Europe ENTSO-E. The transmission capacity between Ukraine and ENTSO-E is up to 2 thousand MW and in the future will have a direct economic effect for the country in the amount of several billion dollars per year.
However, the commercial export started in June (it started with 100 MW to Romania) was stopped as a result of missile attacks by the Russians on October 10 until the stabilization of Ukraine’s energy system.
At the end of October, the chairman of the board of Ukrenergo, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, in an interview with RBC-Ukraine, said that ENTSO-E has increased the capacity of commercial exchanges between Ukraine and Europe to 400 MW for export and to 500 MW for import. However, he emphasized that Ukraine has not yet started importing, although it has the opportunity to do so, as well as the opportunity to request energy assistance from Europe.
After the next attacks in November, Kudrytskyi confirmed the possibility of importing electricity from the EU in the amount of 500-600 MW, however, he emphasized that the cost of electricity in Europe is much higher, so on general commercial grounds it is unlikely that anyone would want to do it. The non-commercial mechanism is currently under development.
As of today, November 28, due to the rapid growth of the power deficit (27%), emergency shutdowns continue throughout Ukraine.
