A prolonged period of severe frosts could become a critical test for Ukraine's energy system, potentially necessitating the introduction of both emergency and scheduled power cuts across the country.
This was stated by Vitaliy Zaichenko, head of the board of the national energy company Ukrenergo, during a national telethon broadcast.
-10C Is the Critical Threshold
Zaichenko emphasized that the main risk factor is a prolonged, sharp increase in consumption caused by the cold snap.
The Ukrenergo chief explained that "a minimum of one week with temperatures of -10 degrees Celsius and below, when electricity consumption significantly increases, is critical for the energy system."
He said that under such conditions, it would be impossible to meet the energy system's needs through either imports or domestic generation sources. Should these conditions arise, the company would have to implement emergency and scheduled outage schedules.
Four Queues: The Maximum Without Attacks
At the same time, Vitaliy Zaichenko noted that a significant deterioration of the current outage schedule situation is not expected, provided there are no new massive strikes on the infrastructure.
While increased consumption stresses the parts of the grid already subject to power cuts, Zaichenko provided reassurance: "It is unlikely that there will be more than four queues [of consumers subject to blackouts], unless there are new attacks on the energy infrastructure."
