Bloomberg News reported on the 26th that Ukraine is no longer suffering from electricity shortages and may resume exporting electricity to neighboring EU countries as it did before the war.
After blowing up a section of the Khrim Bridge in mid-October, Ukraine has been attacked by about 100 missiles at intervals of 10 to 15 days from the Russian military. At this time, Russian missiles intensively attacked energy infrastructure such as substations as winter approached.
Since November, when the winter season began in Ukraine, whenever there was a missile attack, as many as 6 million out of 40 million people had to live without electricity for several days. Without electricity, heating and water supplies are cut off, making it difficult to cook.
So far, about 15 mass Russian missile strikes have been carried out, which are said to have killed 98 energy infrastructure engineers. But in winter, the weather was milder than normal, and now that winter is coming to an end, demand for electricity has decreased and production has increased as repairs to damaged facilities have accelerated, says Ukrenergo of the state grid.
Regarding the resumption of electricity exports, Ukraine’s Minister Hermann Hallushchenko said in a television interview that “we are discussing it now.” “If the power grid maintains a stable supply advantage, the issue of exports must be discussed,” he said.
If Ukraine exports the remaining electricity in the spring, it could be a great addition to Ukraine’s national treasury, along with grain exports resumed from three Black Sea ports with Russia’s agreement from August last year. Ukraine has suffered a budget deficit of 5 billion dollars (6.5 trillion won) every month due to a lack of tax revenue.
As for grain exports, the second agreement expires on March 19 and the extension is uncertain, but over the past 8 months, over 2 million tons of grain have been exported per month on average. Ukraine, Europe’s largest agricultural country, produced 80 million tonnes of grain before the war and exported 50 million tonnes. Exports were disrupted by the Russian invasion of 20 million tonnes, and a further 50 million tonnes of crops were re-harvested during the war.
In addition, if Ukrainian electricity is exported, Ukrainian power infrastructure and power grid engineers will be able to evoke pride and praise comparable to that of Ukrainian state-owned railways, which previously showed an amazing punctual operation rate and success rate in transporting refugees and safely entering foreign countries even during the war.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.