Ukraine needs electricity market liberalization to boost generation – Naftogaz chairman
To stimulate business and develop production capacities, Ukrainian energy market needs to be liberalized where possible, said Oleksiy Chernyshov, Chairman of Naftogaz of Ukraine, in a speech at the International Conference on Restoration of Ukraine in Berlin, state news agency Ukrinform reported on July 12.
“After this winter, we will need to have more production capacity,” Chernyshov said.
“And in this regard, we use the word ‘market.’ Let business produce more energy - but in order to do this, we need to liberalize the market.”
He informed conference participants that Naftogaz plans to increase gas production.
Read also: Ukraine commissions additional NPP unit to boost grid
“We produce and consume a lot of gas without importing it from Europe,” Chernyshov added.
He also mentioned that foreign partners pumped 2.5 billion cubic meters of gas into Ukrainian gas storage facilities last year. This year, despite Russian missile attacks on gas infrastructure, gas injection continues.
During a speech at the opening ceremony of the recovery conference in Berlin on June 11, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine, with the help of partners, intends to build up to 1 GW of gas-fired flexible generation in 2024 and another 4 GW in the coming years.
Zelenskyy also mentioned that 9 GW of Ukraine’s capacity had already been destroyed by Russian missiles and drones, while peak energy consumption in Ukraine last winter was 18 GW.
Lana Zerkal, former Advisor to the Minister of Energy and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, believes that Zelenskyy’s statement that Ukraine will build up to 1 GW of gas-fired maneuverable generation by the end of 2024 is unrealistic.
Volodymyr Popereshnyuk, co-founder of the NOVA group of companies (Nova Poshta), believes that it is absolutely possible to build a gigawatt generation facility within a year, but the investment required is $500 million.
Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, Chairman of the National Power Company Ukrenergo, said at the International Conference on Restoration of Ukraine in Berlin that Ukraine’s power system needs 5-6 GW of generation of various types. According to Kudrytskyi, after each attack, Ukraine’s power system loses 1-2 generation units.
During his speech at the International Conference on the Restoration of Ukraine in Berlin, Ukraine’s Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said that new generation projects that will add gigawatts to the power system as soon as possible are preferable for Ukraine.
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Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal previously said that due to Russia’s destruction of Ukrainian generation, blackouts could last up to 12 hours.
Direct losses to Ukraine’s energy sector as of May 2024 amounted to more than $16.1 billion, according to the Kyiv School of Economics.
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