Russia has destroyed many power plants in Ukraine, resulting in the loss of half of its electricity production. This is already difficult in the summer – and in the winter it can be disastrous. What is needed is not only repair of damaged power plants, but also more air defense and increased electricity imports from neighboring countries, says Dmytro Sakharuk of Ukrainian energy company DTEK in an interview with ntv.de.

In the medium term, electricity generation in Ukraine requires decentralized energy supply. And more renewable energy sources, because they are more flexible, says Sakharok: „Of course, wind turbines and solar panels can also be attacked, but the Russians will have to spend more resources on them because the systems are spread over a large area. They are certainly easier and faster to use to repair.”

ntv.de: Russian missile and drone attacks destroyed half of Ukraine’s electricity generation capacity, President Zelensky said Tuesday at a reconstruction conference in Berlin. How affected is your company?

Dmytro Sakharok: Before this wave of attacks, that is, before March 22 of this year, we had six thermal power plants.

Coal or gas?

money. It was already attacked in the previous wave between October 2022 and February 2023, but we fixed it. This year, there have been six attacks on our power plants: two in March, two in April, one in May, and one in June. The total available capacity of these six power plants is 5 gigawatts. We currently have 500 megawatts available to produce electricity. We’re basically down 10%, from 5 GW to 500 MW. We are trying to restore at least half of what was damaged or destroyed at the beginning of the heating season.

So until October?

Depending on how you count. Traditionally, the heating season in Ukraine begins on October 15. Last year, due to the unusually warm weather, the authorities decided to postpone the date to November 1. To repair half the damage, we need between $350 and $400 million, mainly to buy transformers, turbines and generators. The problem is that companies don’t have anything like this on their shelves. As a rule, these devices are manufactured for the system in question. Therefore, the lead time is long and of course an advance payment must be made.

Can you repair power plants?

There may be at least a partial short-term solution this year. We may obtain materials from power plants built during the Soviet era in countries such as Poland, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece. We are already visiting these facilities in cooperation with the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy and Ukrainian energy companies. Many of them have been closed or are being closed due to environmental regulations. We check what can be used in Ukraine.

did you find what you were looking for?

We found some things – not everything we need, and of course it is used. But it must be possible to repair, maintain and load materials onto trucks and transport them to Ukraine. This is the quickest way to restore at least some of our ability to generate electricity. Of course, the material does not always fit. Our power plant blocks will be a bit like Frankenstein’s modules.

Do you have enough engineers and workers to repair damaged pipes and equipment?

Yes. We employ 50,000 people in various departments of our company. Miners, for example, who now help repair systems, substations and lines. However, we have a shortage of skilled workers who can adapt materials from old power plants in neighboring countries. The scale of destruction is so great that we do not have enough engineers to deal with it. We also lack the personnel needed to dismantle the devices and transport them to where they are needed. Currently 5,000 of our employees are in the military. 289 killed as soldiers. 875 wounded. 66 missing. We also have twelve employees in captivity. Some of our employees have died on the job. Four were killed and 65 injured. This is the high price we pay for operating power plants. You need staff to supervise the blocks – even if there is an alarm. We then reduced the number of colleagues to a minimum and installed additional protective measures in the control rooms; They also wear protective vests and helmets. But it’s still very dangerous. These people are like soldiers in the trenches.

How much will these Frankenstein blocks help?

It will not cover all needs, perhaps 15 or 20 percent. That’s why we also have to buy new materials, because in some places the old ones can’t be used – in control rooms, for example. So we need money – financial requirements are high and our company’s sales are low. In the previous wave, we repaired ten units and spent $126 million. All 10 units now need repair again. We hope for international support. The Ukrainian government may provide low-cost loans, or international institutions such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development or the European Investment Bank may also provide loans to purchase equipment and finance the work. The US aid agency, the US Agency for Development Cooperation, has already provided $46 million to purchase equipment, in addition to $26 million from the European Energy Security Support Fund. But the gap is still huge: we need between $350 and $400 million for all repairs. There are only 140 days left until the heating season begins.

Is there a difference between the attacks since March and the first wave of attacks in the winter of 2022/2023?

During the first wave we had more air defence. This spring, the Russians waited for the moment when Ukraine would run out of anti-aircraft ammunition due to delays on the part of our American and European partners. This is the main factor: our defensive ability.

Right now we try to make it clear in all conversations: even if we had the money, equipment and people to do the job, it doesn’t make sense for the Russians to launch another air strike and again in a month, a week or a day to destroy our powerful plants.

At first glance, it seems illogical for the Russians to wait until March to attack energy infrastructure.

That was very logical. In December, January and February they sent thousands of cheap martyr drones to drain our defences. When they realized our supplies were almost at zero, they knew now was the perfect time to send the missiles. So, it is not enough to restore our ability to generate energy, we must also be able to protect it. But there is a third thing we need.

What is the third thing?

We must increase our energy imports from Europe. Ukraine has been connected to the European electricity grid since March 16, 2022. The connection capacity currently stands at 1.7 GW, which is the combined capacity of Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova. In purely technical terms, the capacity is 3.5 gigawatts. The 1.7 GW cap was a decision taken by the European Network of Transmission System Operators, ENTSO. This is the forum where engineers decide how much electricity can be transferred from one country to another within the European grid. They usually take a very conservative approach. This was also the case when our power systems were synchronized: ENTSO engineers said it was impossible, we would have to wait two years. Thanks to political pressure from the European Commission, this happened in March, and is going well. We may not reach 3.5 gigawatts, but 2.2 or 2.5 gigawatts is certainly possible. Technically everything is ready.

How much electricity do you need?

We have an electricity deficit of 2 gigawatts in Ukraine. In winter, this number will rise to 4 gigawatts, as many people use electricity for heating. Increasing power imports by 0.5 or 0.7 GW could replace two or three damaged units. This can significantly reduce power outage times.

How often should the electricity be cut off?

Currently, state transport system operator Ukrenergo has to set limits for regional companies. Regional operators turn off customers according to schedules. In Kiev, for example, DTEK introduced a rolling schedule for each district: people have no electricity for four hours, then electricity for five hours — and so on. If the energy deficit increases in the winter, the periods of power outages will be much longer: seven hours without power, and two hours without power. People will be without power in their homes for up to 20 hours. This is a big problem. 500 or 700 megawatts from our neighboring countries could alleviate our situation significantly. This is the third step: recovering, defending and importing more electricity. The fourth step that is being talked about a lot now is the installation of decentralized energy sources.

Decentralized energy system?

Yes, with gas turbines and generators. Ukraine must provide everything possible to the country and establish important infrastructure such as water, sewerage and heating systems. None of these systems work without electricity. If there is no electricity, people will not have electricity, but they may also have no heat, no water, and no sanitation. Then the apartments become uninhabitable. As the President said on Tuesday, we have lost 9 gigawatts. The possibility of replacing parts of it without decentralizing our system is limited. Decentralizing our energy system will take two to three years, so we need to start now. It is not just about purchasing gas turbines and generators, but also about integrating them into the grid. This will take time. However, it is the fastest and cheapest solution.

What kind of generator would that be?

The small generators we are considering will be 25 megawatt gas turbines, or diesel or gasoline generators such as a ship engine. They can produce up to 18 megawatts. With enough generators, we can maintain the basic infrastructure we desperately need in the winter so people can stay in their homes.

What role do renewable energy systems play in this concept?

This is the next chapter in the development of the Ukrainian energy system. The share of renewable energy in Ukraine has risen to eleven percent. Before the war, our company built 1.2 gigawatts of solar and wind turbines. Unfortunately, 500 MW of it is in the occupied part of Ukraine, in the south, in the part of the Zaporizhzhya region controlled by the Russians. We still have two large solar systems with a capacity of 200 MW. During the war we built an additional 114 megawatts of wind power. In the south, cities like Odessa and Mykolaiv could be electrified thanks to our wind farms there if substations in the region are destroyed.

It is important to expand into renewable energy because it is more flexible: of course, wind turbines and solar panels can also be attacked, but the Russians will have to spend more resources on this because the systems are spread over a huge area. It is definitely easier and faster to fix.

Hubertus Vollmer and Marina Braček spoke to Dmytro Sakharuk