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The Lithuanian-coordinated International Energy Cluster and the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine have agreed on joint actions to restore Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. This was discussed during a remote meeting on Thursday by the Deputy Minister of Energy of Ukraine Farid Safarov and the representative of the International Energy Cluster Mantas Nashlenas. In the near future, it is planned to sign a cooperation agreement and start work.
“Our support is important for Ukraine both in increasing the pressure of the European Union on the aggressor, and in the country’s desire for EU membership and integration of the energy system to the West. For example, Ukraine could successfully export electricity to the EU and develop other energy projects,” Deputy Energy Minister Albinas Zananavičius said at the meeting.
At the beginning of 2022, Ukraine had one of the largest electricity generation capacities in Europe (~60 GW), was one of the top three natural gas producers (~20 bcm) and had the largest underground gas storage facility in Europe (32 bcm). m3). On February 24, 2022, the large-scale military aggression of the Russian Federation, which began in 2010, had a significant negative impact on the energy industry of Ukraine. Energy infrastructure facilities of economic, humanitarian and geopolitical importance have been and remain among the main goals of the Russian military.
During the six months of the war, Russia captured or damaged about 35% of the country’s installed capacity, thousands of kilometers of electrical, gas and heating networks, thousands of transformers, compressor stations and heating points. The oil industry was destroyed. The consumption of electricity and natural gas has decreased by 30-35 percent. In August, the estimated damage to the Ukrainian energy sector amounted to at least $1.8 billion.
International Energy Cluster was established on June 7, 2018 in Kyiv, with the aim of connecting companies with extensive experience and a good reputation in the power industry to implement joint projects in Ukraine, Lithuania and other EU countries. Currently, it unites 7 companies that manufacture and supply equipment, metal structures for the energy sector, perform design, contracting and commissioning, work on telecommunication systems, and also cooperates with 5 scientific institutions working in the field of energy.
