Photo from UNIAN
At the same time, the working load at coal-fired power plants have increased.
Total operating capacity of Ukraine's nuclear units has fallen to a historic minimum as another unit (No. 3) at Yuzhnoukrainsk nuclear power plants (NPP) was halted for emergency repairs on the evening of May 14, says Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Energy, Housing and Utilities, Andriy Gerus.
"The total operating capacity of nuclear units fell to 6,780 MW, which accounts for under 49% of nuclear power plants' total capacity installed. This is a new historical minimum. This has never happened in Ukraine's history," he wrote on Facebook on May 14.
According to Gerus, a month ago, nuclear units' capacity stood at 9,150 MW, that is 35% up, although the weather was not very different from today. "The market has already responded to the shutdown of nuclear units as the price of electricity has increased by 15% in recent days. This is logical, the greater the restriction of competition, the higher the price," he said.
At the same time, the working load at coal-fired power plants (TPPs) have additionally increased, as some of them operate three to five units.
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Gerus earlier said that the state would fall short of billions of hryvnias, while electricity tariffs for consumers would grow due to the Energy and Environmental Policy Ministry's decision to shut off certain nuclear power units at Ukraine's national nuclear energy generating company Energoatom, which generates the cheapest electricity on the market.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the state-run enterprise Energoatom, the operator of Ukrainian-based nuclear power plants, in late April was forced to put unit No. 3 at Rivne NPP on standby due to the predicted increase in generation of electricity from renewables and at thermal power plants, most of which are owned by Ukrainian businessman Rinat Akhmetov.
The updated balance of the energy system, approved by the Ministry of Energy and Environmental Policy, provides for the withdrawal of Energoatom's three nuclear units into a forced outage.
However, thermal energy is more expensive than nuclear power, which affects electricity tariffs.