Belarus unaffected by Ukraine’s decision to stop electricity export

The share of Ukrainian electricity was about 4.5% of Belarus’ electricity budget for October 2014, BelTA learned from Belarusian First Deputy Energy Minister Leonid Shenets as he commented on Ukraine’s decision to stop supplying electricity to Belarus.

“The Ukrainian electrical company Ukrenergo has sent a letter to notify us that the Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Ministry has decided to stop supplying electricity to Belarus as of 1 October 2014,” said the official. Leonid Shenets specified the Ukrainian side had taken the measure in view of the rising demand for electricity in Ukraine’s central and northern parts and the insufficient availability of fuel at power-generating installations in these regions.

According to the source, Belarus intended to use electricity from Ukraine and Russia in order to complete repairs at some power-generating installations of the Belarusian energy grid and prepare the system for the forthcoming autumn-winter period of 2014-2015 in addition to creating an operational reserve of power-generating capacity. Apart from that, Belarus has switched on additional equipment to increase electricity generation.

Leonid Shenets pointed out that Belarus has a sufficient number of interstate 330-750kV electric lines that connect the country with the energy grids of Russia, Ukraine, and the Baltic states. The lines allow redistributing electricity supply depending on the energy budgets of the neighboring energy systems.

The Belarusian First Deputy Energy Minister assured BelTA that despite Ukraine ceasing to supply electricity to Belarus the measures that have been taken already will keep the Belarusian energy grid operating smoothly and will provide domestic consumers with electricity in a reliable manner.

Electricity import from Ukraine was on schedule prior to October 2014. Belarus had plans to import a total of 3 billion kWh of electricity from Ukraine in 2014 and about 1 billion kWh from Russia.