The Transmission System Operators (TSOs) of Continental Europe have confirmed that the technical pre-conditions have now been fulfilled to allow for the first phase of commercial exchanges of electricity between Ukraine and the neighbouring countries.
This follows the successful synchronisation of the power systems on 16 March 2022 and the welcoming of Ukrenergo as an observer member of ENTSO-E on 26 April 2022.
“Gradually increasing electricity trade is particularly important in the context of Russia’s continuing aggression against Ukraine,” said Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson. “It will allow Ukraine to earn revenues to support its power system in a situation where their domestic income has been reduced by Russia’s attacks. At the same time, it will make additional affordable electricity available for the EU during a time when prices are exceptionally high.”
The technical pre-conditions include the reconfiguration of equipment at power plants to improve the damping of power fluctuations in the energy system; the implementation of a daily coordinated security assessment, including IT security measures; full compliance with ENTSO-E requirements in planning cross-border electricity flows; the integration into the financial settlement mechanism of cross-border unintentional deviations of technical flows; the connection to a special alarm system for real-time monitoring of cross-border electricity flows; and the establishment of a proper procedure of synchronous operation between the ENTSO-E power system and the electrical grids of Ukraine-Moldova in case of low damped oscillations.
The start of commercial electricity exchanges with the Ukraine-Moldova power system is planned for today, 30 June on the interconnection between Ukraine and Romania. The electricity trading on the other interconnections (Ukraine-Slovakia, Ukraine-Hungary and Moldova-Romania) is expected to follow later. According to the Energy Community Secretariat, TSOs and NRAs from Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine and Moldova will meet on 7 July in Vienna with the aim to agree on a roadmap that will outline concrete steps for implementation of the joint capacity allocation process.
“It could take about a year to meet ENTSO-E requirements to open exports, but like our synchronisation, we have managed to do it incredibly quickly,” commented the CEO of Ukrenergo, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi. “That is why, today, Ukrenergo and other European TSOs can say that we have a great energy victory.”
The total trade capacity will initially be set to 100 megawatts (MW) in the first phase. After this initial phase, a gradual increase in the trade capacity will be regularly assessed based on power system stability and security considerations.
