Ukraine's power deficit cannot be covered by domestic generation or imports

Ukraine's power system is experiencing a severe deficit of capacity, which cannot currently be covered by existing generation or electricity imports.

Source: Vitalii Zaichenko, CEO of Ukrenergo, Ukraine's state-owned electricity transmission operator, during an online European Business Association board meeting

Details: Zaichenko said that under these conditions, attracting private investment in the construction of generation facilities is very important for Ukraine's energy sector.

"In particular, thanks to special auctions by Ukrenergo, 423 MW of new generating capacity were added to the energy system over the past year," Zaichenko added.

He also noted that it's important to connect to the grid those generating capacities that businesses and industry currently use solely as backup sources for scheduled or emergency outages.

"If these facilities were operating on the electricity market, they could cover part of the capacity deficit in the energy system while simultaneously generating profit for their owners," Zaichenko said.

Background:

• Since October 2025, the Russians have carried out complex attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities. Many generation, transmission and distribution facilities have been damaged across most regions of Ukraine.
• Kyiv will soon return to scheduled power outages, which will be fairly severe for the city's residents.
• Kyiv has lost part of its own electricity generation capacity.

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