Who will retain power in Ukraine
2022.12.21 05:18
Who will retain power in Ukraine
Budrigannews.com – A massive, abandoned electrical transformer that was constructed in 1980 in what is now Ukraine has been brought back to life in Lithuania and prepared for shipment. It will possibly return to Ukraine in the upcoming weeks after traveling by sea to Romania.
Lithuania’s power grid chief Rokas Masiulis said his company was looking through warehouses for anything else Ukraine might need to fix the damage to its electricity system caused by Russian missile attacks on a regular basis.
According to what he told Reuters, “The Ukrainians say they are fine to receive anything, including things that are not working or broken, since they can fix the equipment themselves.”
Countries in Europe and beyond are also in a race to supply the transformers, switches, and cables as well as diesel generators necessary to light and heat the country in the winter, while the West is rushing to replenish Kyiv’s arms and ammunition stocks.
Europe has received a list of approximately 10,000 items that Ukraine urgently requires to maintain power.
Due to their proximity and the fact that some grids in the region still have hardware that is compatible with Ukraine’s, former Soviet Union and ex-Communist bloc members have a significant role to play.
Auto-transformers, like the one headed for Ukraine, were said to be in greatest demand, according to Masiulis. It cost around €2.13 million, weighs nearly 200 tons, and took two weeks to remove any parts that could be removed and drain the oil so that it could be transported.
He stated, “We are in the process of updating our grid, and we send everything we strip down to Ukraine.” Latvia, Lithuania’s northern neighbor and a former Soviet republic, announced that it was delivering five substantial transformers to Ukraine, two of which were prepared for immediate deployment.
Since the beginning of October, Russian forces have been targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, resulting in blackouts and millions of people being forced to live in temperatures below zero with little or no heating.
The strikes, according to Moscow, are necessary as part of its “special military operation” to weaken Ukrainian forces. The barrage is viewed by Kyiv and the West as a sly attempt to demoralize civilians and weaken the adversary.
Azerbaijan, France, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, in addition to individual businesses, have already delivered thousands of pieces of equipment to Ukraine through regional European bodies and nations.
At the beginning of December, Ukraine’s deputy energy minister Yaroslav Demchenkov stated, “We are searching all over the world for replacements of the equipment destroyed during the attacks.”
Ukraine had figured out how to stay away from a “all out breakdown” of the power conveyance framework, he said, yet disturbances are huge. After Russian missile and drone attacks this week, approximately 80% of the Kyiv region was without electricity for two days.
Given the fragmented and hurried nature of the response, it is impossible to estimate the support’s total value; however, transformers and generators worth tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars have been shipped.
Challenges incorporate tracking down the right equipment to match Ukraine’s necessities. Its power system is not always compatible with that of other countries, including its neighbors to the north, because it was once a member of the Soviet Union.
Officials from the company asserted that the supply of generators cannot meet demand, particularly given that some of the most urgent deliveries can take months.
On Wednesday, Oleksandr Kharchenko, director of the Energy Industry Research Center in Kyiv, stated on Ukrainian state television, “Unfortunately, high-voltage transformers, which we need the most, are not there yet.”
He stated that a few could be shipped, but he did not anticipate them arriving before February at the earliest.
Ukraine has received spare parts from Lithuania’s gas grid, and the operator of Lithuania’s transmission grid has already sent hundreds of smaller transformers that lower the voltage as it travels from a power station to an end user.
Last week, a spokesman for the Polish state-owned utility Tauron stated that the company had sent 21 kilometers (13 miles) of wire, nine drums, 129 insulators, 39 transformers, and 11 overhead circuit breakers, which he referred to as gifts.
Some deliveries are made in response to requests from Ukrainians, while private businesses in that country order additional supplies to keep their operations running.
Polish power generator manufacturer EPS System’s commercial director, Jerzy Kowalik, stated that the company was receiving numerous orders from Ukraine, some for dozens of large units at once.
“There’s an issue with the accessibility of motors we use in the midst of a worldwide blast for generators fuelled by the energy emergency,” said Kowalik. His company, which has approximately 100 employees, is unable to meet demand and is rejecting some requests from Ukraine.
According to Volodymyr Kudrystski, chairman of the management board at Ukraine’s grid operator Ukrenergo, the need for urgently needed transformers is complicated by the fact that Ukraine’s standard power transmission lines are 750 kilovolts and 330 kilovolts, while those in Poland, for example, are 400 kilovolts and 220 kilovolts. Additionally, switches, disconnectors, and circuit breakers are essential because 70 Uk
Ukraine consumes approximately 16 gigawatts of electricity during peak times. Although lines connecting it to Poland were damaged in recent attacks before they were restored, and Romania is only a marginal source at this time, it can import up to 10% of that from neighboring systems.
This indicates that Ukraine is utilizing foreign-supplied equipment that it has built up internally in anticipation of an invasion.
This month, Ukrainian businesses imported 500,000 smaller generators, but the country needed 17,000 large or industrial generators to get through the winter, according to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
For critical infrastructure like hospitals and water pumping stations, those were especially crucial.
The Energy Community Secretariat is an international group formed by the European Union and eight aspiring EU member states to oversee energy support in Europe.
Artur Lorkowski, its director, stated that more than 60 private companies from 20 countries in Europe were involved, that 800 tons of equipment had already been delivered, and that dozens of additional deliveries were planned.
Lorkowski anticipated that the private sector would play a greater role in meeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure requirements as the supply of state-owned European power grids diminished.
Talks are being held through the G7 to tap organizations in the US, Canada and Japan, he added.
Lorkowski stated to Reuters, “This would give us the scale that would make a difference in Ukraine.”
According to officials, a first shipment of $13 million worth of US power equipment has been delivered to Ukraine, and two additional planeloads were scheduled to depart shortly. Japan and Ukraine have also held discussions.
Although such a shift would require time and money, Lorkowski and other officials predicted that hardware might have to be designed and constructed from scratch.
Although patching up the current network is the priority for the time being, officials in Ukraine are considering a significant overhaul of the energy sector in order to integrate the economy of Ukraine with that of Western Europe.
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In addition to donating some imported equipment, countries and international lending organizations are providing loans and grants to help Kyiv pay for the repairs.
It would cost tens of billions of dollars to completely restore the energy system, according to Olena Osmolovska, director of the reform support team at Ukraine’s energy ministry.
