No rolling blackouts in summer in Ukraine, state company assures
Ukraine is not planning rolling blackouts during summer months, the likely deficit to be covered by imports from the European Union, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, CEO of Ukraine’s state energy company Ukrenerho said on Thursday.
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Speaking on national television, Mr Kudrytskyi assured that the deficit “can be dealt with in several ways, and disconnecting consumers is the last on the list of priorities.”
He further called electricity imports from Europe one of the key factors in balancing the Ukrainian energy system.
“This will allow us to attract additional capacity to cover Ukrainian consumption at times when the Ukrainian power system lacks capacity,” the official added.
Another option is maximising thermal and hydro generation, “those power units that will not be undergoing scheduled maintenance or that were not damaged by Russian missile attacks in the winter.”
“These two key elements will be important to get through the summer.”
That said, Mr Kudrytskyi called on consumers to conserve energy, especially in the evening hours – from 7 to 10 pm – opting for night or daytime hours when there is enough energy.
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.