DTEK, Ukraine’s main electricity supply utility, reports that on 28 November Russia launched its 11th major attack against the country’s energy system since March this year.
Information about the level of damage to DTEK facilities has been restricted for security reasons, but the European Commission and the US government have undertaken to supply up to €107m of equipment aid to restore power on a widespread basis. The EC will supply €62.8 million in equipment and materials to restore 1.8 GW of supply and ‘winterise’ power plants, while the USA will provide up to $46.1 million in control systems and transformers at thermal power plants.
The consequences for Ukraine’s infrastructure since the invasion in February 2022, in particular for its power system, have been considerable, requiring a huge effort to repeatedly restore supplies.
Kurakhove thermal PP (Ukraine’s oldest power station, opened in 1941) was badly damaged by Russian shelling a year ago, including the destruction of its iconic cooling towers. Staff was evacuated and the machinery dismantled for transportation to other thermal PPs in the summer.
In the wars so far there have been 198 individual missile and drone strikes against six DTEK TPPs; 90% of DTEK’s generation capacity had been damaged or destroyed as of July 2024. DTEK had rebuilt 60% of its pre-war capacity before the most recent attacks, including 15.7 million reconnections to Ukrainian households by DTEK engineers since the invasion.
€208 million has been spent to restore and rebuild TPPs in the year to date – the figure is estimated to be €250 m by the year’s end – while €1.4 billion has been spent on wind, solar and battery assets.
Ukraine is now looking to partner with international financial institutions, foreign governments, energy producers and equipment manufacturers to accelerate the recovery of its energy system; and seeking urgent supplies of equipment to maintain the power system, specifically specialist machinery: to clear debris and transport heavy equipment, generation equipment such as transformers and grid repair materials – power lines, sub-stations and mobile sub-stations to cope with freezing conditions – as well as reserve equipment to prepare for likely future attacks.
