REUTERS
President of Ukraine's national nuclear energy generating company Energoatom Yuriy Nedashkovsky has announced Energoatom's plans to launch electricity exports to Poland and Hungary in 2019; the electricity will be generated by the second Khmelnitsky Nuclear Power Plant (KhNPP) unit, which is now under construction.
"I believe we'll manage this project within a short period of time, i.e. 18 months from the beginning of the active phase of construction, which is to start soon, as all the blueprints are ready now... We'll become a reliable exporter of electricity to the EU in 2019," Nedashkovsky said at the Ukrainian Energy Forum.
In his words, the launch of the second KhNPP unit will considerably boost Ukraine's export potential.
"This will provide an opportunity to significantly increase the export potential from 550 MW (Burshtynska thermal power plant) to 1.55 GW with a further possible increase to 2.55 GW. This will be the cornerstone of synchronization of our power grids with European operators," he said.
Nedashkovsky also forecasts that after power exports to the EU begin, Energoatom will be able to use an export mechanism as collateral to obtain a loan from European banks to complete the third and fourth power units at KhNPP.
Read alsoEnergoatom sees rise in revenue from electricity salesAccording to him, electricity will be exported through the Khmelnytsky NPP – Rzeszow transmission line to Poland and through the 750 kV Zakhidnoukrainska substation – Albertirsa line to Hungary. The company also plans to accelerate the construction of new transformers at the site of the third KhNPP unit to ensure the safe operation of the plant.
Nedashkovsky also announced the cost of the electricity export project.
Read alsoEnergoatom to load Westinghouse fuel in Zaporizhia NPP power units in 2017"The total amount of the investment program is EUR 55 million. Most of the money is Energoatom's investment. The bulk of it will be spent on modernization of KhNPP's 750 kV switchgear and the commissioning of the transformers. These are not new disbursements – they have been previously earmarked under projects for synchronization with the EU power grids and a project for the completion of the third KhNPP unit," Nedashkovsky said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine boosted electricity exports by 10.9% in 2016 from 2015, to 4.014 billion kWh.
UNIAN memo. Energoatom is Ukraine's largest electricity producer, accounting for about 50% of the country's overall power output. Energoatom is responsible for the safe operation of the country's nuclear power plants.
Ukraine ranks seventh globally in terms of the installed capacity of its nuclear power generating units. Energoatom operates four nuclear power plants across Ukraine with a total of 15 power generating units, all with VVER-type reactors. Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, operating six power units with a total capacity of 6 GW, is Europe's largest.