Ukenergo hopes no rolling blackouts this summer in Ukraine

The situation in the energy sector will be tense in the summer, but without rolling blackouts, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, CEO of Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s state energy company, hopes.

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In an interview with Radio Svoboda, Mr Kudrytskyi said Ukraine could import electricity from Europe or turn on additional generating capacities – like those using natural gas – to cover for the deficit that may occur.

"Traditionally, such combined heat and power plants are not used much in summer, but we can switch on additional gas-fired generation if there is a need. Therefore, I would not talk about inevitable rolling blackouts or blackouts as such," Mr Kudrytskyi said.

He explained that power outages in the summer are possible in Ukraine, but not due to a shortage of generation.

"Of course, blackouts can occur due to damage to the power grid; this is something that any electricity consumer in the world, unfortunately, faces from time to time. It can be a damaged distribution line.

"Or, like yesterday, there was a larger-scale emergency, when several trunk power lines were disconnected at the same time. But this is not related to the balance and shortage of electricity."

Russia started targeting Ukrainian power plants and other energy infrastructure with missiles in October 2022, which led to widespread rolling blackouts.

Since February, however, there has been no electricity shortage in Ukraine due to a combination of factors, including the load of all nuclear power plants, warm weather, flooding on the Dnipro River, and imports from Europe.

In April, all electricity supply restrictions in Ukraine were finally lifted.