Ukraine lost about 9 gigawatts of generating capacity. These are the consequences of the last seven attacks on energy

As a result of the last seven Russian attacks on the energy sector, Ukraine lost about 9 gigawatts of generating capacity — half of the countryʼs total energy production. This is equivalent to the energy consumption of the Netherlands for three months or the combined consumption of Slovakia and the Baltic States.

Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, the chairman of the board of NEC "Ukrenergo" , announced this.

According to him, in preparation for this and the next winter, Ukraine must immediately start construction of distributed generation facilities. According to Kudrytskyi, decentralization of small power plants will make the Ukrainian energy system more resistant to Russian attacks.

"Unfortunately, we have to deal with the realities that attacks are likely to continue. And we have to be ready, we have to restore as much generation as possible before winter. We must request additional air defense to protect what we are rebuilding. But we also have to deploy new generating capacity to make sure that if the Russians do these attacks again, they wonʼt be able to concentrate on 10 or 15 large power plants, but will be dealing with a huge number of small ones. And here we approach the issue of decentralization of generation. And it should be done not after the victory, not after the war, but just now. We need to start right now," he said.

Briefly about electricity generation

In Ukraine, more than 50% of electricity is generated by nuclear power plants, and in winter periods of high consumption, this figure can be 70%.

At the same time, thermal and hydroelectric power plants provide additional electrical power. They are necessary because they can be scaled up relatively quickly to cover short-term increases in consumption.

Without these additional capacities, imbalances and deficits occur in the energy system.

Planned outages are expected to continue intermittently throughout the summer as nuclear power plants undergo routine maintenance and electricity use rises due to heat and air conditioning.