National power company «Ukrenergo»
Native name
ПрАТ «Національна енергетична компанія "Укренерго"»
PrAT «Natsional'na enerhetychna kompaniia "Ukrenergo"»
FoundedApril 15, 1998; 25 years ago (1998-04-15)
Headquarters25 Symona Petliury str., Kyiv, Ukraine
Websiteua.energy

Ukrenergo (Ukrainian: ПрАТ «Національна енергетична компанія "Укренерго"», literally 'National Power Company "Ukrenergo"[1]') is an electricity transmission system operator in Ukraine and the sole operator of the country's high-voltage transmission lines. It is 100% owned by Ukrainian government (Ministry of Energy).

Transmission Network in 2013[2]
Voltage
(kilovolt)		 Length
(kilometre)
800 99
750 4,121
500 375
400 339
330 13,346
220 3,976
110-135 667
Total 22,923

The territory of the Soviet Union was integrated into the IPS/UPS synchronous grid, which is now effectively controlled by Russia. The one exception was the "Burshtyn Power Island", centered on the Burshtyn TES, which in 2003 was connected to the synchronous grid of Continental Europe, controlled by the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E).[3]

Ukraine continued this arrangement until the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014, after which Ukraine signed an association agreement with EU. On 28 June 2017, the head of Ukrenergo Vsevolod Kovalchuk signed an agreement to synchronize the whole Ukrainian power grid with the European grid.[4] The agreement outlined a roadmap to finalize the process in 2023. But the military buildup preceding the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine accelerated this process. On 24 February 2022, 4 hours before the invasion, Ukraine was disconnected from the Russian grid[5] in what was expected to be a 72 hours test of autonomous stability.[3] Ukraine was able to continue in this less-stable configuration because electricity demand was reduced by about a third as civilians fled the country and fighting caused blackouts in some areas.[6]

Ukraine and Moldova were connected with the ENTSO-E grid on 16 March 2022.[7][8][9] At the time of connection, coal power plants were making up for generators that were out of action (including seven of Ukrenergo's fifteen nuclear power plants, representing 10% of Ukraine's electric generation), and there was 2 GW of capacity connecting the two grids.[10]

During the 2022 invasion, Ukrenergo received support from allied countries including a €370 million loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development with assistance from USA and the Netherlands,[11] and several million for generators from the UK.[12]

Ukraine cannot sell power into the rest of the ENTSO-E grid until it installs static synchronous compensators. It is allowed to import electricity, but there is limited transmission capacity to do so, far less than would be needed to power the entire country.[6]

Management

Volodymyr Kudrytskyi is the Chairman of the Management Board of PrJSC National Energy Company Ukrenergo.[13]

Prior to his appointment, Kudrytskyi headed the Company as acting Chairman of the Board since February 22, 2020 after the previous CEO of Ukrenergo, Vsevolod Kovalchuk, announced his resignation. Kovalchuk had been acting CEO of NPC Ukrenergo and later acting Chairman of the Board of NPC Ukrenergo since October 2015.[14]

Supervisory Board

References

  1. ^ "Структура власності НЕК «УКРЕНЕРГО»". opendatabot.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2023-03-27.
  2. ^ Liudmyla, Vlasenko (July 2013). "Power System of Ukraine: today and tomorrow" (PDF). Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine. p. 4. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  3. ^ a b Jayanti, Suriya (March 1, 2022). "Ukraine's Electrical Grid Shows How Hard It Is to Escape from Russia's Grasp". Time.
  4. ^ Varfolomeyev, Oleg (12 July 2017). "Ukraine Moves to Integrate Its Power Grid With European Network". Jamestown Foundation. Archived from the original on 28 February 2021. Retrieved 2022-03-18.
  5. ^ Michaels, Daniel (28 February 2022). "Ukraine Cuts Links to Russian Electric Grid, Will Plug Into European Network". WSJ. Archived from the original on 17 March 2022. Retrieved 2022-03-18.
  6. ^ a b Blaustein, Anna (March 23, 2022). "How Ukraine Unplugged from Russia and Joined Europe's Power Grid with Unprecedented Speed".
  7. ^ "President Zelensky: Ukraine becomes a member of 'European Energy Union'". Ukrinform. 16 March 2022. Archived from the original on 16 March 2022. Retrieved 2022-03-18.
  8. ^ "Statement by Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson on Synchronisation of the Continental European Electricity Grid with Ukraine and Moldova". ec.europa.eu. European Commission. 16 March 2022. Archived from the original on 17 March 2022. Retrieved 2022-03-18.
  9. ^ "ENTSO-E agrees to start trial synchronization of continental European power grids with those of Ukraine, Moldova from March 16". Archived from the original on 16 March 2022. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  10. ^ Barber, Gregory. "The Race to Rescue Ukraine's Power Grid From Russia". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2023-04-28.
  11. ^ Bennett, Vanora (29 December 2022). "€370 million for Ukraine's electricity company from EBRD and The Netherlands". Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  12. ^ "UK funding to help repair Ukraine's damaged energy systems and get power back to Ukrainian people". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2023-04-28.
  13. ^ "Головою "Укренерго" обрано Кудрицького". Інтерфакс-Україна (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2023-10-06.
  14. ^ "Голова "Укренерго" Всеволод Ковальчук йде у відставку". www.unian.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2023-10-06.

External links


European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity
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