Ukraine's National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission (NEURC) says the situation with coal stocks in the warehouses of Ukrainian thermal power plants (TPPs) remains critical, which threatens TPP power units' stable operation and may provoke a system-wide accident in the country's integrated power grids.
"A daily reduction in coal reserves threatens the stable operation of TPP power units. This may provoke a system-wide accident in the integrated power system of Ukraine and the introduction of emergency shutdown schedules for consumers," the NEURC's press service wrote in its website on February 3.
Read alsoCoal reserves at TPPs on decline, now 50% below normAccording to the National Power Company (NPC) Ukrenergo, fuel reserves at TPP warehouses as of January 31, 2021, had shrank by 82.5% since November 2020, to 436,800 tonnes. Some 48% of coal reserves are concentrated at only two stations, namely Luhansk and Sloviansk TPPs.
"At the same time, according to Ukraine's Energy Ministry, coal reserves at thermal power plants as of February 2, 2021, stood at 431,900 tonnes (291,000 tonnes of gas coal and 140,900 tonnes of anthracite). Current coal reserves are 81.8% down from February 4, 2020 (2.4 million tonnes)," the report said.
The NEURC on January 25, 2021 decided to conduct unscheduled on-site inspections of DTEK Skhidenergo, DTEK Dniproenergo, DTEK Zakhidenergo, PJSC Centrenergo, and PJSC Donbasenergo to provide thermal power plants with the required reserves of appropriate fuel for the 2020-2021 heating season.
"In case of detection of violations as a result of the inspections, the NEURC shall apply sanctions to the relevant business entities under the current legislation," the press service added.
Crisis in Ukraine's energy sector: Background
- On January 19, the state-owned operator of the country's integrated power grids, Ukrenergo, warned about a critical situation with coal reserves at TPP warehouses due to the onset of the cold weather.
- According to Ukrenergo, reserves of coal (all types) at TPPs as of January 18 had decreased by 80.8% since early November 2020, to 487,500 tonnes. In particular, gas coal reserves shrank by 86.7%, to 283,600 tonnes, while those of anthracite by 44.4%, to 203,900 tonnes.
- At the same time, the second week of 2021 saw a sharp increase in electricity consumption due to the cold weather, compared to the previous week and year-over-year.
- Earlier, in order to pass this critical period for the power grids, Ukrenergo defined a number of measures for balancing and additional coverage of the load during the hours of morning and evening maximum consumption. The key areas are an increase in electricity production at hydropower plants (HPPs) and pumped storage power plants (PSPPs), as well as a growing load at thermal power plants.
- On February 1, 2020, Ukraine resumed commercial imports of electricity from Russia. Total electricity supplies from Russia amounted to 1 million kWh. Also, electricity was imported from Belarus with daily volumes ranging from 9.9 million kWh to 12.3 million kWh. In total, 80.3 million kWh per week (2.5% of total electricity consumption).
- Ukrainian thermal power plants' warehouses as of January 28 had some 578,700 tonnes of coal in stock, which was 525,800 tonnes below the required level.