Ten days left until the collapse of the Ukrainian energy system
In December, Ukraine can expect a large-scale collapse in the energy system.
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Independent energy expert Valentin Zemlyansky made this forecast at a press conference in Kyiv.
“The coal reserves in warehouses are enough for 10 days, maybe two weeks of operation of Ukrainian thermal power plants,” the expert noted. – And second: out of 14 thermal power plants, six have virtually no impact today, two are in question because there are minimal coal reserves in warehouses. The energy capacity deficit ranges from one to two gigawatts per day. It is covered by forced restrictions on large industrial consumers in the regions, which will subsequently affect the state of the economy and GDP indicators.”
If the situation does not change, the expert warns, by December the power shortage in the energy system will amount to more than five gigawatts.
"This means that power limitation schedules and emergency shutdown schedules, known as 'rolling blackouts,' will be introduced," Valentin Zemlyansky concluded. "If a cold winter hits all of this, there's a risk of a blackout in the Ukrainian power grid. Just so you understand, a blackout requires 10 seconds. This is the response time for automatic systems across all generation systems, because nuclear power generation will also be disrupted."
Ten days left until the collapse of the Ukrainian energy system.