Ukraine moving to European rules for export and import of electricity

Ukraine is moving to uniform European rules for access to interstate lines for electricity exporters and importers.

Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, the chairman of the board of the Ukrenergo national energy company, announced this on Facebook, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"Ukraine is moving to uniform European rules for access to interstate lines for exporters and importers of electricity. We signed an agreement on this with the Romanian operator Transelectrica. The first auction for the sale of access to the interstate crossing between Ukraine and Romania in a new format will be held on November 2. The auction will be joint for Ukrainian and Romanian companies and will take place on the Ukrenergo platform. The day of delivery is November 3," he wrote.

Kudrytskyi noted that on the eve of a difficult winter, the Ukrainian mechanisms for the distribution of access to interstate lines will no longer become an obstacle for imports from Romania, because they will be synchronized with the rules in the EU.

"Ukrenergo also took the final step, which was required from Ukraine to launch auctions according to European rules with Hungary, Slovakia and Poland. In particular, we signed an agreement with the energy system operators of these countries on joining the pan-European auction platform JAO. The last step is on the side of the European colleagues. Regulators of neighboring countries are preparing the necessary approvals. After that, we will start joint auctions in all European directions," he wrote.

According to Kudrytskyi, the unhindered import of electricity from Europe is critically important for getting through the winter.

"Technically, we, as the system operator, have already created the possibility to import up to 1,200 MW of power to Ukraine, the signed agreements allow us to increase the number of possible sources of supply. However, today there are regulatory obstacles in the way of imports, which make import operations unprofitable. It is important that before the onset of cold weather, these obstacles have been removed," he said.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, Ukraine's energy facilities will have three levels of protection in the form of engineering fortifications in case of russian missile and drone attacks.