Ukrainian power company warns repairs could take 18 months

Russian missile and drone attacks targeted thermal and hydroelectric power plants in central and western Ukraine on Friday night (March 29), in response to recent Ukrainian airstrikes on Russian territory.

A devastated area during the fighting in Kamianske, Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine on March 29, 2024. Photo: Reuters

DTEK, which meets about a quarter of Ukraine's energy needs, has seen its thermal power plants and other facilities hit by Russian missiles, drones and artillery recently.

DTEK CEO Dmytro Sakharuk said in a televised address that the attacks on March 22 and 29 affected thermal and hydroelectric power generation “in most regions.”

“Specifically, five of our six facilities were severely damaged, some units were destroyed, some were damaged by 50 percent or more,” he said.

A senior official at the power generation company Centrenergo said the 10-unit Zmiivska thermal power plant in the northeastern Kharkiv region was destroyed in the attack on March 22.

DTEK spent $110 million restoring facilities hit by Russian attacks last year, Sakharuk said, and two-thirds of them have now been destroyed again.

Repairs will take months and in some cases could take up to a year and a half, he said. “It takes time to manufacture a turbine, generator or transformer, so you have to be prepared for the fact that it will take time to gradually restore power.”

Mai Anh (according to Reuters, CNA)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/nam-nha-may-dien-cua-ukraine-bi-hu-hong-phai-mat-18-thang-de-sua-chua-post289897.html