Ukraine supplies no electricity to Crimea now due to an emergency shutdown / Photo from UNIAN
The power supply from mainland Ukraine to the Russian-occupied Crimea via the only operating Kakhovska-Titan transmission line has completely stopped, causing a power blackout in Yevpatoria and other parts of the peninsula, according to Russian news agency TASS.
"The power is at the zero level. We've got no notifications – this is all I can tell you now," Crimea's de facto Fuel and Energy Minister Svetlana Borodulina told TASS on Wednesday evening.
Five districts in the peninsula's northwest – Krasnoperekopsky, Razdolnensky, Pervomaisky, Chernomorsky, Saksky, partly Dzhankoisky district, and the large city of Yevpatoria were cut off the power grids.
According to official data, Ukraine was providing Crimea with 150 megawatts, which was about 10% of the peninsula's demand.
Borodulina later told another Russian news agency RIA Novosti that the electricity power failure had been caused by an emergency shutdown and the power supply would be compensated from the peninsula's central part.
Ukraine's state-run Ukrenergo company in turn confirmed the failure of the only operating transmission line supplying the power to Crimea, according to head of Ukrenergo's press service Zinoviy Butsyo.
"There was an unscheduled outage at a half past eight in the evening. Attempts to restart the power line failed, and the examination of the substation did not reveal any causes. Therefore, repair teams left to examine the power lines. It won't be easy as they've got only flash lights – there is no other lighting, and the distance is long. It's hard to say when the power supply will resume," he added.
The power supply from Ukraine earlier stopped in the early hours of November 22, 2015, after four power transmission lines at the administrative border between mainland Ukraine and Crimea – Melitopol-Dzhankoi, Kakhovska-Ostrovska, Kakhovska-Titan and Kakhovska-Dzhankoi – had been damaged in explosions.
On December 8, Ukraine resumed the power supply to Crimea via the 220 kV Kakhovska-Titan power line with the maximum capacity being 160 megawatts, which, according to Crimea's local authorities, was enough after the first line of the so-called power bridge from Russia's Kuban was launched on December 2. That line supplies 200 megawatts to Crimea. On December 15, the second line of the power bridge was put into operation, having increased the capacity to 400 megawatts.