Lithuania is currently dismantling an entire power plant, which will be sent, piece by piece, to Ukraine, to boost its supply.
Ukraine is at serious risk of energy shortages and blackouts again this winter as Russian missiles have continued to target its power plants and substations.
Since the start of the war, more than half of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure – nine gigawatts (GW) of power generation capacity – has been destroyed.
Lithuania is currently dismantling an entire power plant, which will be sent, piece by piece, to Ukraine, to boost its supply.
The EU today pledged to take €100 million from frozen Russian assets to spend on Ukrainian energy infrastructure repairs. The money will also fund solar panels for schools and hospitals to decrease reliance on power stations, seen as easy targets.
Early on in the war, Ukraine was disconnected from Russia’s electricity network and instead linked up to the EU grid. The European Union has now pledged to increase electricity exports to Ukraine. But that will only provide one-quarter of what Ukraine needs.
“25 per cent is an add-on that we can supply to Ukraine. Of course it is going to be tough to deliver on the 75 per cent that have to be produced within Ukraine”, said European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, in a press conference in Brussels this morning. “We support as much as we can. It is a huge challenge.”
The International Energy Agency (IEA) warns that Ukraine could have a shortfall of 6 GW, equivalent to the peak annual demand of Denmark.
“This coming winter will be extremely fragile for Ukraine[‘s] energy system and we cannot afford to fail”, said the head of the IEA, Dr Fatih Birol.
With just two weeks before the winter season officially starts, the EU is appealing to other donors to come forward and support Ukraine through the coldest part of the year.
