Ukraine seeks disconnection from electricity grid of former Soviet countries

Ukraine is ready to begin testing its electricity grid with the European grid, in a bid to disconnect it from the grid connecting it to Belarus and other former Soviet countries, the country’s energy minister announced on Thursday.

Kiev, which is in a state of “conflict” with Russia after the Kremlin’s move to mobilize 100,000 troops on the two countries’ borders, considers the separation from the former Soviet Union’s electricity grid and the country’s connection to the European Union. crucial to its energy security.

This is because today, as reported by Reuters, Ukraine is mainly dependent on Belarus to deal with any disturbances in its electricity network, with the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, who is a close ally of Moscow, has said that Minsk will stop energy supplies if tensions between Ukraine and Russia escalate and the two countries go to war.

In this context, in order to ensure its energy security, Ukraine wants to connect to the European Network of Transmission System Operators (ENTSO-E) next year.

“The energy system is ready to emerge from an isolated regime,” Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushenko told reporters on Thursday when asked if the grid would be disconnected from neighboring grids in a test scheduled for February 24-26.

Halushenko said the United States and the European Union – which have said Russia is preparing to invade Ukraine – an accusation Moscow has repeatedly denied – have expressed support for plans to connect the Ukrainian network to the European Union.

This winter, Belarus was the only source of additional electricity for Ukraine in the event of an emergency or a sharp rise in consumption.

Source: Capital

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