Cabinet To Switch TPPs To Gas Due To Coal Shortage – Shmyhal

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said that the Cabinet of Ministers has decided to switch thermal power plants to the use of natural gas as fuel because of a shortage of coal.

Shmyhal said this during a government question hour in the parliament, the Ukrainian News Agency reports.

Shmyhal was responding to a question about the threat posed by the insufficient coal reserves at the Lugansk thermal power plant, particularly the threat of power and heat outages in the city of Schastia.

"The relevant decision was made this Wednesday and sent to the National Commission on State Regulation of Energy and Utility Services (Energy Commission), and the commission decided to introduce a so-called additional service. If Russia extends the ban on the transportation of coal to the Luhansk thermal power plant, since there is no other route, gas will be supplied at the corresponding price as an additional service," Shmyhal said.

He added that the Luhansk thermal power plant would operate without interruptions and that heat will be supplied to all the residents of Schastia and all nearby population centers.

As Ukrainian News Agency reported earlier, the Ministry of Energy initiated the adoption of a government order on introduction of an auxiliary service for purchase of natural gas for thermal power plants and combined heat and power plants in mid-December. The natural gas is expected to be used only to meet production needs.

Natural gas reserves in Ukraine’s underground storage facilities had reduced by 9.97 billion cubic meters or 39.2% to 15.465 billion cubic meters as of December 11, 2021, compared with 25.4 billion cubic meters as of the same date in 2020.