Why blackouts started in Ukraine and what Ukrainians should expect in winter

Because of the war in Donbass Ukraine does not produce enough coal and owing to the economic crisis the country lacks money for its purchase.

As early as on the second day of winter blackouts started to occur in Ukraine. The first victims of economizing were the inhabitants of Kiev and Kharkov. Yesterday, according to “Ukrenergo”, blackouts occurred also in Donetsk and Dnepropetrovsk.

The reason of the drop in electricity production is banal: shortage of coal. Thermal stations spend less coal for the purpose of economy and also lower the capacity of the generators producing electricity. One more reason is the breakdown maintenance of electric power unit No 3 of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Station (1000 МVt in capacity), which is planned to be launched by the end of this week. As a result there is shortage of “current”, especially because in winter the demand for it grows several-fold.

“Due to the loss of the coal mines in Donbass we have nothing to load the steamers with, which burn anthracite. At the majority of the TPS the reserves of coal are sufficient for 4 or 5 days only. New rolling blackouts will occur when the temperatures drop lower”, — says the co-Chairman of the Fund of Energy strategies Dmytro Marunych.