Sienkevych said that Denmark and the UN are helping Mykolaiv to prepare for winter: «There are up to five alternative energy projects»

Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych during a conversation with Nikvesti correspondent Alisa Melik-Adamian, photo: city council

After the latest attacks on the energy infrastructure in Mykolaiv, they are working on five alternative energy projects. Denmark and the UN help in this city.

Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych reported this in a comment to NikVesti.

«The city continues to prepare with our foreign partners. I cannot reveal some issues related to energy, but I will say that today we have up to five projects related to alternative energy, alternative electricity generation. Today, we are working with our partners, primarily with Denmark and with UN units — UNOPS, UNDP, and even the International Organization for Migration,» Oleksandr Sienkevych said.

Shelling of the energy sector in the spring of 2024

On March 22, Russia carried out the first massive shelling of energy infrastructure facilities this year. The Russian army attacked Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kryvyi Rih, Khmelnytskyi, Poltava Oblast, Vinnytsia Oblast, Lviv Oblast, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Mykolaiv Oblast, Odesa, and other regions of Ukraine.

The biggest was the attack on the Dnipro hydroelectric power plant (HPP) in Zaporizhzhia. This is one of the largest and most powerful hydraulic structures in Ukraine. A rocket attack on the Dnipro HPP resulted in damage to two stations and a dam that are part of its structure.

Oleksandr Kharchenko, director of the Energy Research Center, says that by winter, Ukraine needs to restore at least 25-30% of the damaged heat generation: «We need to fully involve imports. Also, before winter, we need to restore as much as possible from coal generation, from hydro generation, and build facilities in gas generation as much as possible.»

At the same time, according to the Minister of Energy Herman Halushchenko, it is not appropriate to make any predictions about the difficulty of the next winter for the energy industry of Ukraine. In his opinion, now no one will be able to say with which generation Ukraine will end up in the winter: «Actually, everything looks comforting, because the system, despite the Russian strikes, is intact.»

The situation with light in the Mykolaiv region

In November 2023, the acting director of Mykolaivoblenergo, Vadym Danylkiv, reported that the company had prepared for possible Russian attacks, so residents of the region should not expect a total blackout. However, the situation may be somewhat more difficult in Ochakiv and Kutsurub communities.

At the beginning of January 2024, blackout schedules were introduced in Ochakiv — electricity was supplied and turned off every two hours at different addresses. This situation arose due to the impact of an artillery projectile on an energy infrastructure facility on Thursday, January 4. As a result of the fire at the substation, 17,400 household and 3,000 legal consumers were left without electricity. Then, it was possible to recover 9.7 thousand subscribers in a day.

According to preliminary data, restoration of electric networks of the Mykolaiv region damaged by shelling will cost 12 billion hryvnias. At the same time, Mykolayivoblenergo expects to receive new specialized equipment to replace the one that was destroyed during the full-scale war, Vadym Danylkiv, director of Mykolayivoblenergo, said in an interview with NikVesti.