News Infrastructure DTEK 654 25 November 2024
The funds will be directed to the restoration of destroyed capacities and winterization of power plants
DTEK Group, the largest private investor in Ukraine’s energy sector, will receive €106.6 million in aid from the United States and the European Commission to restore facilities destroyed by Russian attacks and prepare power plants for the winter. The company said in a statement.
“The US government and the European Commission are providing DTEK with €106.6 million ($112 million) on equipment and construction materials, providing vital support to the energy system destroyed by constant Russian missile and drone attacks – the latest of which took place on November 17,” DTEK said.
The European Commission is allocating €62.8 million for equipment and materials to restore generating capacity (1.8 GW) and protect power plant equipment from snow, rain and low temperatures.
The U.S. government is allocating $46.1 million to purchase control systems and dozens of new transformers, which are critical to ensuring power supply for millions of people. Through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the United States has already provided DTEK with critical equipment for the Grids teams, including bucket trucks, pickup trucks, transformers and electrical wire.
Before the full-scale invasion, DTEK produced about a quarter of the country’s electricity. However, since March 2024, this role has been threatened by repeated Russian attacks, including missile and drone attacks. By mid-summer of this year, 90% of DTEK’s generating capacity was destroyed, but the power company restored more than half of the lost capacity. However, on November 17, Russia resumed massive attacks on the energy sector.
According to DTEK CEO Maxim Timchenko, no country in the world has ever faced such attacks on its energy system, but with the help of partners, Ukraine continues to stand firm against Russian energy terror.
“This support is a recognition of DTEK’s systemically important role in supplying Ukraine with electricity and our prompt efforts to restore thousands of megawatts of capacity,” he said.
Timchenko also expressed gratitude for the support of the US, the European Commission and the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy in providing this assistance.
Ambassador Jeffrey Payette, Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources, quoted in the report, said that by providing $46.1 million for control systems and new transformers, the US is helping to restore and strengthen Ukraine’s energy infrastructure to protect it from unprovoked Russian attacks.
As GMK Center predicted, the situation with energy supply and the size of the power deficit in the grid in the fall-winter period of 2024-2025 depends on new missile attacks and possible damage to the energy infrastructure, weather and the dynamics of restoring previously damaged power facilities. Given the high risk of repeated shelling, no one can predict with high accuracy what the situation will be like in winter.
In industry, the stability of energy supply will depend not only on the above factors, but also on the willingness of businesses to overpay for imported electricity and/or invest in their own generating capacity.
