The light will return in the spring: how will heat and sun affect shutdown programs in Ukraine?

In order to strengthen the stability of the energy system and provide a constant supply of electricity to critical infrastructure, Ukraine will gradually start up small natural gas-fired power stations. writes about it Focus In the article “Electricity is expensive to buy. How long does a power outage in Ukraine last”.

“The first task of gas turbine stations is to supply electricity to critical infrastructure. They can also support peak consumption hours, and gas piston stations can be an additional means of backup power supplies installed at nuclear power plants,” says Alexander. Director of the Energy Research Center Kharchenko. According to him, gas turbine stations will be a more profitable and efficient solution than gas piston ones. “In conditions of production deficit, gas turbines are more important, gas piston ones have a capacity of up to 5 MW, and a gas turbine is more suitable – there the power can be 30, 60 and even 100 MW, such generation that can be bought and installed quickly. Ukraine has some of such capacity, but we need more – we need 1.5 GW of capacity,” said Alexander Kharchenko, the regions will feel the results of this work.

However, whether the blackouts in Ukraine will end with the installation of gas turbine capacities and the start of March remains a sadly unanswered question. As the situation in the energy system is very fragile and possible new bombardment by the RF Armed Forces could increase both the grid and generation deficit. In addition, planned repairs of thermal power plants and nuclear power plants in the spring will also affect the electricity generation level in the country. Meanwhile, the increase in solar power generation in March will not have a significant impact as such stations are unable to stabilize the power system during evening peaks.

“An important condition is that there is no additional serious damage. Potentially, consumption will drop, renewable energy generation will catch up in the spring, but everything will ultimately depend on the situation with restrictions on the transmission system,” says energy officer Andrian Prokip. Specialist at the Ukrainian Future Institute.

Recall, according to the Ministry of Energy, due to the occupation of the southern and eastern regions of Ukraine by Russia, 90% of wind generation and up to 40% of solar energy were lost.

Previously Focus He wrote that a number of thermal power plants in Ukraine have stopped their work as a serious power generation shortage has been recorded.