Ukrainian electricity provider reveals how much longer blackouts will go on and whether warmer weather will have an impact

KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO — Sunday, 19 May 2024, 23:07

Rising temperatures next week will mean there is no need for power outages at night and in the morning, but in general, power cuts may still be in place in the summer, autumn and next winter.

Source: Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, CEO of Ukrenergo, the national electricity transmission company, on the 24/7 joint newscast on the evening of 19 May

Quote: "As we announced earlier, a schedule of hourly power outages is likely to be implemented tomorrow from 18:00 until midnight for industrial and domestic consumers, because there is not enough power in the system to cover peak consumption in the evening.

Compared with last week, weather conditions are expected to be more favourable, and the temperature is likely to rise. Therefore, consumption will be slightly lower than last week. We hope this will enable us to avoid outages at night, as was sometimes possible this week, and during peak consumption in the morning."

Details: Asked how long power outages for households will last, Kudrytskyi said they could continue during at least the summer, autumn and next winter.

Quote: "Under the current conditions, there will be rolling blackouts until generation is restored. That will take months. And that’s only if there are no further attacks on the energy infrastructure. During the summer, autumn and next winter, we must be prepared for rolling blackout schedules to be implemented at times.

We are in a situation where we have a huge shortfall of electricity generation because it is not possible to repair power plants quickly after such severe damage. So shortages will arise from time to time, and power outages and blackout schedules may resume from time to time. We all need to be ready for this."

Background: Emergency and stabilisation power outages across Ukraine began this week.

There were no blackouts for domestic consumers on Saturday, 18 May, and on Sunday, 19 May only Poltava and Kharkiv oblasts were affected.

On Monday, 20 May, power outages are planned for industrial and domestic consumers in all regions from 18:00 until midnight.

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