No need for rolling blackouts in Ukraine – PM

There is no need for rolling blackouts in Ukraine, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.

"On January 15, Energoatom launches one of its units, takes it out of maintenance, and then, after a short time, the second unit is launched. In fact, these parameters give us confidence that we should not introduce rolling blackouts as a mechanism for balancing the power system, so we will not do it," the prime minister told Interfax-Ukraine.

The Ukrainian energy system will be stable during current drop in temperature, Denys Shmyhal believes.

"There are all the prerequisites for this. The only difficulty that the power system is affecting today is the low remains of coal in the warehouses of coal-fired TPPs. In this regard, meetings were held, decisions were made, if necessary, the launch of gas-oil blocks, as well as the transfer of coal blocks to gas combustion," he said.

The prime minister said that in addition to imports of coal, in particular from Kazakhstan, Ukrainian mines will provide coal.

"The only thing is that there is some inertia. When the warehouses were overflowed, the coal mines suspended or reduced production, and now they are starting to resume it," the head of government said, adding that this will take some time.

"The displacement of the repair programs of individual units, in particular, atomic ones, plus a cold snap – an increase in demand for electricity – led to a quick, unexpected operation of coal in the warehouses. When there is no coal on the stream, the start of this process takes time. Thus, there was such a more or less two-three-week gap, which led to an insufficient amount of coal in the warehouses. But it is not critical," Shmyhal said.

"The situation is not easy […] But it's not critically difficult either," he said.

Source: www.en.interfax.com.ua