Russian strikes may force Ukraine to shift to hundreds of smaller power plants instead of few large ones - MP

In view of the ongoing Russian attacks targeting Ukraine’s energy generation facilities, Ukraine should explore the option of a smaller-scale generation network that would complicate Russia’s effort to undermine Ukraine’s power system.

Such an opinion was expressed on Ukrainian Radio by the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Energy Committee, Andriy Herus, Ukrinform reports.

According to the the lawmaker, energy facilities are not top secret sites so it is practically impossible to hide them because anyone can see where power lines go.

"Nevertheless, last year and now, work is underway to slightly change the architecture of the energy network so that we have smaller, distributed decentralized generation that will be closer to end users. In simple words: if we have up to a dozen large power plants, they are clear targets that can be hit. When we have hundreds of smaller power plants that will be located closer to consumers and high consumption areas, it will be practically impossible – or very costly – to fire missiles at these smaller targets," said Herus.

As he explained, the point is to build up this new element of the power system throughout the country, and certain work is already being done to this end. Among other things, multiple solar power plants and a large number of gas power plants are being deployed, mainly in larger cities.

"The new configuration will contribute to the flexibility and reliability of the power system," the head of the parliament’s energy committee is convinced.

As reported, in the early hours of Friday, March 29, Russia launched a massive attack on Ukrainian energy facilities. In particular, three thermal power plants operated by DTEK Group were affected.

The previous massive strike was recorded on March 22 when a number of thermal power plants, the Dnipro HPP, and high-voltage substations were hit.