Too much coal left unsold, industry needs reform – energy minister

Ukrainian Minister of Energy and Environmental Protection Oleksiy Orzhel has said Ukraine is unable to sell all the coal mined, so the industry needs to be reformed.

"We must frankly admit that our coal industry needs to be restructured and reformed. Since under such a load, under such system operation, we are not seeing sales of marketable products. These are painful decisions that require an integrated approach, but still we have to go step-by-step, according to plan," he said in the parliament.

The load on heat generation and the demand for energy production with the use of coal have shrunk in Ukraine, according to Orzhel.

Read alsoUkraine boasts record high coal reserves since 2015

"Coal reserves in warehouses increase every day. This means we don't use up the coal. We produce more coal than we consume during the heating season," the minister said.

As UNIAN reported earlier, on January 21, the ministry presented the new long-term climate plan, which targets a 70% share of clean energy sources by 2050.