Kyiv is better prepared for winter than other regions, director of the Center for Energy Research says

The capital is best prepared among all regions to strengthen its energy infrastructure for winter.

This was stated by Oleksandr Kharchenko, director of the Center for Energy Research.

What is known about winter preparedness?

"The government has reached agreements with most regions on funding the 'resilience plans' with 80% for 20%. Here 80% is the national budget, and 20% is regional. Most regions have already fully invested their portions, but funds from the national budget have not yet arrived to them. This is a problem. Because without money it is simply impossible to implement the 'resilience plan' in cities. On this background, Kyiv looks somewhat more positive. Since the city has greater financial capabilities, Kyiv reached an agreement with the government on the distribution of 50/50. And in addition, the city is implementing certain programs outside these figures, which are also quite significant. In all other regions, preparations are proceeding quite slowly," said Oleksandr Kharchenko.

He noted that this year the plan is to do in 4 – 5 times more than in any other year of the war.

We are preparing for the first time in the way we were supposed to always,

– emphasized the expert.

However, Kharchenko warns that most of the ambitious goals set will not be reached this year. Because it is impossible to fit into one interseason the works that were planned to last 3–5 years. In addition, financing problems, regulatory constraints, and a shortage of engineering personnel negatively affect the situation.

Nevertheless, by the next winter Ukraine will be better prepared than it was the previous year, he concluded. But despite this, we will surely be better prepared than for the last winter, he is confident. Specifically, as Kharchenko explained, the regions continue to work on creating decentralized energy systems in the regions, build micro-CHP plants, and purchase cogeneration installations. In Kyiv alone, by the end of the year 200 MW of such capacity should be installed.

Right now, up to 800 MW of cogeneration capacity are being built. At the same time, about 1800 MW is already in operation. This is an official figure, but it also includes older gas TPPs. In other words, this is already a very significant factor for the energy system. This is very positive,"

– Kharchenko explained.

According to him, the main challenge now is to ensure that water supply and heating do not disappear in winter. Work on this is ongoing and very intensive.

Earlier, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said that the capital has already completed 50 and more than a percent of the works envisaged by the resilience plan. In particular, energy blocks were restored for 350 MW, an additional thermal generation capacity of 1 gigawatts was created. It was also reported that Kyiv is due to complete 22 billion hryvnias of works under the resilience plan.