Rapid restoration impossible: Ukrenergo power company reveals repair time for thermal and hydroelectric power plants

Photo: Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, Chairman of the Board of NPC Ukrenergo (Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)

Ukrainian power engineers will need weeks, months and even years to restore thermal power plants (TPP) and hydroelectric power plants (HPP) damaged by Russian strikes, according to Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, Chairman of the Board of NPC Ukrenergo.

He noted that TPPs and HPPs are currently facing the most critical situation. However, this does not mean that the power units at the plants are destroyed forever.

"At this particular moment, we have a historical record of low capacity at thermal power plants. At hydroelectric power plants, the scale of these damages is also global. We can say that there is no HPP that hasn't been damaged,” said Kudrytskyi.

He added that the deficits observed in the power system cannot be covered even by sufficiently powerful imports from the European Union. This is the result of Russian attacks on hydroelectric power plants and thermal power plants.

"And the bad news is that it is technically impossible to restore these damaged power plants quickly. It takes time: weeks, often months, sometimes years,” Kudrytskyi emphasized.

Russian attacks

It should be noted that the Russian forces have been targeting the country's energy sector all spring. In particular, the Trypillia TPP was destroyed. At that time, Ukraine did not have enough air defense ammunition to protect the plant.

Following such attacks, power outage schedules were implemented across the country. This week, they are in effect every day.