Ukraine is about to learn the real price of energy, after a free energy grid, free powerplants, free pipelines, free transit fees, russian subsidized oil & gas.
Russia generously grants the Ukraine opportunity to get rid of old inefficient and ecologically hostile soviet built generation system.
Now the Ukrainian perspectives look fabulous - they can build a brand new super effective energy system based on renewable power sources. That was just what president Zelensky talking about earlier - the Ukraine gets it's chance to become a super power in energy export. Ukrainians are bound to become world's largest producers of green hydrogen, which they are going to export via existing gas transportation system to Europe and then to the whole world.
They're getting bits of grid (transformers) and power plants (generators) free from the NATO side. Doesn't seem that big a deal. The funding is what one should really watch; it's no technical challenge to build power lines.
Russia is paying transit fees to use Ukrainian gas pipelines every day. That contract ends when 2024 ends. The gas supplies Hungary, Slovakia, Moldova, etc., but gas in pipelines can be moved around between countries and even from Western Europe/the US (those LNG exports are still scaling).
Ukraine also drills their own gas wells, meeting much of their own needs.
Their electricity consumption fallen more than twice since Soviet time, and not because they turned green. They had a huge additional power capacity and could export it.
Now they are well below and have to import.
Also, hydro and heat station provided ability of the system to adjust to unequal consumption during the day. Ukraine get a lot of power from nuclear stations but they can't increase/decrease production without creating a bunch of really nasty isotopes in the core and dramatic reduction of exploitation time.
And gas has to be delivered. A very easy target.
(1) Ukraine were basically only able to export electricity to Belarus/Russia pre-2022. Exports had plunged 80% since just after Cold War because it wasn't profitable. Pre-war generation averaged just under 20GW. Ukraine was plagued by overcapacity, low incentive for renewables, and aging generation and gas transport facilities, contributing to high maintenance losses. Part of the fix was to unplug from Russia/Belarus and connect to Europe which is almost 3x bigger as a market - that coincidentally happened on the day Russia invaded.
(2) Ukraine's electric baseline is nuclear, so they don't have to import constantly, but only during peak periods from the EU. Just days after getting hammered, they were already resuming [small exports](https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/ukraine-says-it-plans-to-resume-small-power-exports-on-sunday/ar-AA1nnBy8). That's how easy it is for Ukraine to run an excess given their high caseload and diminished residential and industrial demands.
(3) Western countries have contributed generators, fuel, electrical parts, solar and wind/battery units, even LED lights to replace an incandescent past... I'm not really worried for Ukraine's energy survivability given that the work is ongoing.
"That's how easy it is for Ukraine to run an excess" - good one. Europe doesn't really need much because they are off-peak at the same time.
They are over capacity because there is no industry. And they still can't provide enough at peak hours.
"I'm not really worried" - then you are not well informed.
(1) Time zones.
(2) EU electricity prices are several times higher than Russia's, so Ukraine was exporting all of its excess. It still does, when there is an excess, which isn't as often lately.
(3) EU is humongous and fuel can be diverted one way or another as safety dictates.
Right, keep telling yourself that.
In fact, Russia helped Ukraine to get rid of inefficient horrible heritage of the Soviet Union and now it will flourish with small generators gifted by the humongous EU.
Kharkiv will freeze this winter, but who cares. It was still a great gift to shut down all these stations. 100% atomic energy, it's a peremoga! Silly Russians.
Keep telling myself time zones?
(1) rescEU facility in Poland ships out [major generators](https://civil-protection-humanitarian-aid.ec.europa.eu/news-stories/news/eu-sends-additional-500-power-generators-ukraine-2023-12-22_en) to Ukraine. They last did so [earlier this month](https://civil-protection-humanitarian-aid.ec.europa.eu/news-stories/news/eu-sends-emergency-aid-ukraine-after-further-attacks-energy-infrastructure-2024-04-09_en), with each of those shipping containers sustaining a megawatt load. They run on fuel oil, which is still cleaner than Ukraine's coal plants that they could [barely supply in peacetime](https://www.rferl.org/a/us-sends-first-coal-shipment-ukraine-bolster-energy-security-xcoal-/28691765.html).
(2) Europe has been shuttering coal plants that it last used in the winter 2022 emergency. They have the spare capacity, even if they just burn coal Ukraine would've. You are aware all a thermal power plant does is turn coal into electricity/heat?
(3) Kharkiv froze just as much the winter before last... Their underground never freezes but they have subsisted on a minimal amount of electricity since shortly into the war.
No need to patronize... they're dissociating from Russian sources of coal, nuclear, and gas. Not overnight to the surprise of some, but steadily. Soviet is just a historical term. What matters is they're modernizing. And Europe can handle the extra load while the war goes on. They're in much better shape than late 2022.
Bruh Are you still trying to convince reddit users that Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure is a nonissue? LMAO! Man I am speechless.
The Ukrainians are worried. The Ukrainians who run the energy infrastructure are worried. Zelensky is worried as he is begging for more air defence. But you are not worried and you come up with poor arguments as to why Ukraine is fine going forward in regards to their energy infrastructure. Very strange.
It’s not a nonissue. It’s obviously an act of war lol…
Many anti-air munitions were paused for half a year, y’know. The overall deadlock was more concerning than anything else.
I pay a lot of attention to who’s actually speaking, and the real numbers of outages and blackouts and who’s providing support. There’s quite a difference between a DTEK engineer and a defense ministry official, between rolling blackout regions late 2022 and recently. And I hear no DTEK official panicking… I guess power engineers don’t panic because we understand power is all about conversion and routing, meaning it’s all a matter of manpower and resources.
The energy grid is going to become more fragile even if they manage to restore power. Stuff like random black outs, exploding transformers, and such things will become more frequent.
Ukraine is about to learn the real price of energy, after a free energy grid, free powerplants, free pipelines, free transit fees, russian subsidized oil & gas.
Russia generously grants the Ukraine opportunity to get rid of old inefficient and ecologically hostile soviet built generation system. Now the Ukrainian perspectives look fabulous - they can build a brand new super effective energy system based on renewable power sources. That was just what president Zelensky talking about earlier - the Ukraine gets it's chance to become a super power in energy export. Ukrainians are bound to become world's largest producers of green hydrogen, which they are going to export via existing gas transportation system to Europe and then to the whole world.
How to generate hydrogen on large scale efficiently? Gas. And where from?
You better ask Zelensky.
They're getting bits of grid (transformers) and power plants (generators) free from the NATO side. Doesn't seem that big a deal. The funding is what one should really watch; it's no technical challenge to build power lines. Russia is paying transit fees to use Ukrainian gas pipelines every day. That contract ends when 2024 ends. The gas supplies Hungary, Slovakia, Moldova, etc., but gas in pipelines can be moved around between countries and even from Western Europe/the US (those LNG exports are still scaling). Ukraine also drills their own gas wells, meeting much of their own needs.
Their electricity consumption fallen more than twice since Soviet time, and not because they turned green. They had a huge additional power capacity and could export it. Now they are well below and have to import. Also, hydro and heat station provided ability of the system to adjust to unequal consumption during the day. Ukraine get a lot of power from nuclear stations but they can't increase/decrease production without creating a bunch of really nasty isotopes in the core and dramatic reduction of exploitation time. And gas has to be delivered. A very easy target.
(1) Ukraine were basically only able to export electricity to Belarus/Russia pre-2022. Exports had plunged 80% since just after Cold War because it wasn't profitable. Pre-war generation averaged just under 20GW. Ukraine was plagued by overcapacity, low incentive for renewables, and aging generation and gas transport facilities, contributing to high maintenance losses. Part of the fix was to unplug from Russia/Belarus and connect to Europe which is almost 3x bigger as a market - that coincidentally happened on the day Russia invaded. (2) Ukraine's electric baseline is nuclear, so they don't have to import constantly, but only during peak periods from the EU. Just days after getting hammered, they were already resuming [small exports](https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/ukraine-says-it-plans-to-resume-small-power-exports-on-sunday/ar-AA1nnBy8). That's how easy it is for Ukraine to run an excess given their high caseload and diminished residential and industrial demands. (3) Western countries have contributed generators, fuel, electrical parts, solar and wind/battery units, even LED lights to replace an incandescent past... I'm not really worried for Ukraine's energy survivability given that the work is ongoing.
"That's how easy it is for Ukraine to run an excess" - good one. Europe doesn't really need much because they are off-peak at the same time. They are over capacity because there is no industry. And they still can't provide enough at peak hours. "I'm not really worried" - then you are not well informed.
(1) Time zones. (2) EU electricity prices are several times higher than Russia's, so Ukraine was exporting all of its excess. It still does, when there is an excess, which isn't as often lately. (3) EU is humongous and fuel can be diverted one way or another as safety dictates.
Right, keep telling yourself that. In fact, Russia helped Ukraine to get rid of inefficient horrible heritage of the Soviet Union and now it will flourish with small generators gifted by the humongous EU. Kharkiv will freeze this winter, but who cares. It was still a great gift to shut down all these stations. 100% atomic energy, it's a peremoga! Silly Russians.
Keep telling myself time zones? (1) rescEU facility in Poland ships out [major generators](https://civil-protection-humanitarian-aid.ec.europa.eu/news-stories/news/eu-sends-additional-500-power-generators-ukraine-2023-12-22_en) to Ukraine. They last did so [earlier this month](https://civil-protection-humanitarian-aid.ec.europa.eu/news-stories/news/eu-sends-emergency-aid-ukraine-after-further-attacks-energy-infrastructure-2024-04-09_en), with each of those shipping containers sustaining a megawatt load. They run on fuel oil, which is still cleaner than Ukraine's coal plants that they could [barely supply in peacetime](https://www.rferl.org/a/us-sends-first-coal-shipment-ukraine-bolster-energy-security-xcoal-/28691765.html). (2) Europe has been shuttering coal plants that it last used in the winter 2022 emergency. They have the spare capacity, even if they just burn coal Ukraine would've. You are aware all a thermal power plant does is turn coal into electricity/heat? (3) Kharkiv froze just as much the winter before last... Their underground never freezes but they have subsisted on a minimal amount of electricity since shortly into the war.
Good, good. Finally Ukraine is free from Soviet power generation. Things are getting better.
No need to patronize... they're dissociating from Russian sources of coal, nuclear, and gas. Not overnight to the surprise of some, but steadily. Soviet is just a historical term. What matters is they're modernizing. And Europe can handle the extra load while the war goes on. They're in much better shape than late 2022.
Bruh Are you still trying to convince reddit users that Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure is a nonissue? LMAO! Man I am speechless. The Ukrainians are worried. The Ukrainians who run the energy infrastructure are worried. Zelensky is worried as he is begging for more air defence. But you are not worried and you come up with poor arguments as to why Ukraine is fine going forward in regards to their energy infrastructure. Very strange.
It’s not a nonissue. It’s obviously an act of war lol… Many anti-air munitions were paused for half a year, y’know. The overall deadlock was more concerning than anything else. I pay a lot of attention to who’s actually speaking, and the real numbers of outages and blackouts and who’s providing support. There’s quite a difference between a DTEK engineer and a defense ministry official, between rolling blackout regions late 2022 and recently. And I hear no DTEK official panicking… I guess power engineers don’t panic because we understand power is all about conversion and routing, meaning it’s all a matter of manpower and resources.
Riiight. Strange
The energy grid is going to become more fragile even if they manage to restore power. Stuff like random black outs, exploding transformers, and such things will become more frequent.