News | Ukraine One year on


Ukraine’s electricity system disconnected from Russia and Belarus


Ban on coal and gas export from Ukraine


Ban on electricity export


Full synchronisation with ENTSO-E


Start of electricity export from Ukraine to the EU


Electricity shortage and rolling blackouts


24 February 16 March 10 June 1 July 2022 DTEK perspective


On 24 February, during his regular online briefing, Maxim Timchenko, CEO of DTEK Group (Ukraine’s largest private power generator and coal producer with 17% of the thermal power generation market in 2021, over 40% of private gas production, 18% of renewables market share, and owner of the largest power distribution grid in the country, accounting for 43% of demand) presented the above timeline of key developments in the Ukrainian energy sector, 2022/23. He noted that Russian aggression had claimed the lives of 141 DTEK Group employees (with 27 missing) and that DTEK’s infrastructure had been hit by over 9600 missiles to date.


He described full integration with ENTSO-E on 16 March 2022 as a major milestone, as it helped avert financial collapse of the whole Ukrainian system.


Another critical development occurred on 10 October when the Russians started deliberately targeting civilian energy


infrastructure, notably transmission lines, substations, interconnections.


A further significant change in tactics was seen in mid January 2023 when thermal power plants became Russia’s main target. DTEK Grid employees have restored power supply to over seven million families in the Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv and Odesa regions, Timchenko estimated, and provided assistance in repairing power lines in the liberated Kherson region, with the repair of nearly 10 000 km of power lines. Working 24/7, DTEK has been managing to restore power supply 24 – 48 hours after shellings, Timchenko said, and is “bringing a lot of creativity to reconnection.”


DTEK Energy miners have extracted more than 17.4 million tons of coal over the past year, ensuring energy security during the winter season, Timchenko said, although two of DTEK’s coal fired plants are in occupied territory. Meanwhile, DTEK Oil & Gas produced more than two billion cubic meters of gas over


the year, maintaining its 2021 record for private gas production.


Despite the war, DTEK Renewables has resumed construction of a 500 MW wind farm and is taking every opportunity to install wind turbines to increase renewable generation in Ukraine, while the damaged Trifanivska solar plant has returned to the network. In January 2023, D.Trading started to import electricity from Europe to reduce Ukraine’s energy system deficit, aiming to restore the balance in Ukraine’s power system, said Timchenko and “as of today, we are considering resuming exports to the EU [at certain hours].” Remarkably, the payment collection rate for DTEK supplied electricity is currently at over 100%, from a low of 16%, with customers recognising the critical national importance of maintaining electricity payments. Currently, more than 100 institutions in Ukraine are receiving free electricity from DTEK, including hospitals, military facilities and law enforcement agencies.


One year on, the International Atomic Energy Agency issued a report, Nuclear safety, security and safeguards in Ukraine, covering the period between February 2022 and February 2023. The 52-page report provides an overview of the situation and the IAEA’s activities to reduce the likelihood of a nuclear accident during the armed conflict.


International Atomic Energy Agency perspective Under attack


“One year has passed since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, marking the first time in history that a war is being fought amid the facilities of a major nuclear power programme,” International Atomic Energy Agency director general Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a foreword of the report. “As this tragic war enters its second year, I want to reassure the people of Ukraine and the international community that they can count on the IAEA, and me as its director general, to do everything possible within our remit to assist them and to avert the danger of a nuclear accident that could cause even more suffering where there is already far too much.”


In the past year, he noted, several of Ukraine’s five nuclear power plants and other facilities have come under direct shelling. Every single one of the IAEA’s seven indispensable pillars for ensuring nuclear safety and security in an armed conflict has been compromised in Ukraine, including: the physical integrity of nuclear facilities; the operation of safety and security systems; the working conditions of staff; supply chains; communication channels; radiation monitoring and emergency arrangements; and, crucially, off-site power supply.


“The IAEA has been closely monitoring the situation and assisting Ukraine every single day since the start of the war,” Grossi said. “This assistance has involved the continuous engagement of the IAEA’s Incident and Emergency Centre; nine IAEA missions to Ukraine; the stationing of IAEA safety and security experts at every Ukrainian nuclear site, including Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant


8 | March 2023 | www.modernpowersystems.com


Start of electricity import from EU


First attack on energy facilities


Over 100 missiles and kamikaze drones fired at energy facilities


Gas infrastructure under attack


Timeline of key developments in the Ukrainian energy sector, 2022/23 (Source: DTEK)


Thermal plants became the main target


10 October


November-December


1 January 2023


14 January


(ZNPP) on the front lines of the war; facilitating an international assistance package totalling over €7 million; and keeping the world informed of the situation at Ukraine’s nuclear sites in more than 140 web updates, four reports and multiple briefings, including to the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council.”


Grossi further highlighted his efforts since September 2022 towards implementation of a nuclear safety and security protection zone at the Zaporizhzhya plant.


The report also gives an overview of relevant aspects of the implementation of safeguards


under the current circumstances in Ukraine. ● The precarious nuclear safety and security situation was highlighted again on 1 March 2023, when the ZNPP’s only remaining 330 kV back-up power line was disconnected for a third time in less than a week, likely because of shelling on the other side of the Dnipro river, the ISAMZ team (IAEA Support and Assistance Mission to Zaporizhzhya) reported.


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