On Wednesday, Ukraine’s Energy Minister German Galushchenko held a meeting with World Bank’s Vice President for Europe and Central Asia Antonella Bassani and Regional Director for Eastern Europe Arup Banerjee (19 July).
The meeting covered areas of support for the Ukrainian energy sector and the implementation of World Bank’s projects to strengthen the stability of the country’s energy system.
Among them is the restoration of energy supply in the winter period and supply of energy resources project, for which 500 million dollars (450 million euros) in financing has been allocated. These funds will be used to purchase equipment for heating services and equipment for electricity transmission infrastructure. The first part of the project’s agreement involves the allocation of a 200 million-dollar (180 million euros) grant, Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said via a press release.
Another project, supported by the German government, provided a grant of 37.74 million euros for implementing devices at substations to ensure the regulatory parameters of STATCOM electricity. The specified equipment will be sent to the national transmission system operator Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s Energy Ministry noted.
A STATic synchronous COMpensator (STATCOM) is a device capable of providing or absorbing reactive current, which can regulate the voltage at the point of connection to a power grid.
During the meeting, Minister Galushchenko informed the World Bank representatives about the measures taken by Ukraine in preparation for the upcoming heating season.
“Last year, massive Russian attacks on our energy facilities persisted throughout the entire heating season, from 10 October to 9 March. Currently, we are undertaking the most extensive repair campaign in the history of Ukraine at energy facilities. This campaign primarily focuses on repairing generation facilities. We are also working on restoring substations and networks, as well as heat generation facilities in regions where it is critically important. Overall, we plan to add 1.7 GW to the grid by next winter as a result of these repair efforts. However, we anticipate that enemy attacks will continue next winter, making the support of our partners crucial in ensuring maximum system stability,” the Minister said.
The Minister emphasised that as part of preparations for the heating season, Ukraine is working to strengthen the physical protection of critical infrastructure. Negotiations are also underway with ENTSO-E to increase the volume of electricity imports from European countries to meet the needs of consumers in the most critical periods.
