Photo from UNIAN
Thanks to measures already taken to transfer TPPs to Ukrainian gas grade coal, the country cut anthracite imports by half.
Ukraine should increase its own coal production and use it primarily for the needs of the entire energy complex in order not to depend on imported anthracite, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said Friday during a working visit to the "DTEK Heroiv Cosmosu" mine in Dnipropetrovsk region.
"Undoubtedly, the issue of energy independence is very relevant for us. And the government strategy is to get rid of any dependence that may arise from abroad," Groysman said.
"Today, Ukrainian grade A coal [anthracite] is in the Ukrainian Donbas under the occupation. So we must do everything to abandon the anthracite and increase the production of G grade coal [gas coal]," the prime minister added.
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According to Groysman, thanks to measures already taken to transfer thermal power plant units from imported coal to Ukrainian gas coal, the country reduced anthracite imports by half.
"A few years ago we consumed 9 million tonnes of anthracite in the total balance. Today, it's already 4.3 million tonnes. That is, we reduced consumption by half," he said, adding that the consumption of anthracite will be reduced in the future thanks to this year's transfer of four TPP units to gas coal.
Groysman also stressed that the coal industry requires investment in order to launch new ovens and increase extraction of own coal so that the industry can ensure Ukraine's energy independence.
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"Today this enterprise [DTEK Pavlogradvuhillia] is a flagship of our coal mining industry. I think that it is a real beacon for other enterprises, including state-owned ones, in terms of how to invest in modernizing the coal mining industry so that it will ensure the energy independence of our state... Extracting energy coal to cover absolutely all the needs of our energy complex – this is our strategy," said Groysman.
As previously reported, the Board of the Wholesale Electricity Market on September 20, 2017, approved a draft amendment to the rules, which states the priority of TPP units operating on gas grade coals over units using anthracite, regardless of price competition.
Coal mines in Ukraine over the 6 months of 2018 reduced the extraction of ordinary coal by 10.5% compared to the same period in 2017, to 16.5 million tonnes.