KIEV: Coal reserves at Ukraine’s coal-burning power plants rose 11.5%, or 207,000 mt, over the past seven days to 2.007 million mt as of Monday, compared with 1.8 million mt a week ago, UkrEnergo, which runs the country’s power grid, said Monday.
Ukraine’s power plants need to store about 3.2 million mt of coal by October 15, when the six-month high-demand season begins, but the figures show the country is lagging far behind schedule.
“Coal accumulation is now in active stage and we will have enough coal in stocks before the start of the heating season,” Energy and Coal Industry Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn said in a statement Friday. “But it is more important for us to secure steady supplies of coal during the winter.”
Ukraine is facing coal shortages with two thirds of its coal mines shut due to ongoing conflict with pro-Russian separatist in Donetsk and Luhansk lasting 16 months.
Ukraine is striving to increase supplies of anthracite coal from the two separatist-controlled regions to replenish its inventories and to ensure deliveries during the high-demand season.
Ukraine is also importing anthracite coal from Russia and South Africa. Anthracite coal has higher calorific content among other types of coal and is widely used by many thermal power plants throughout Ukraine.
Ukraine’s reserves of anthracite increased to 962,900 mt as of Monday, compared with 835,900 mt a week ago, UkrEnergo said in the report. Reserves of other types of thermal coal rose to 1.045 million mt as of Monday, compared with 964,300 mt a week ago, UkrEnergo said. At the same time, fuel oil stocks at power plants fell to 17,900 mt from 19,400 mt.
UkrEnergo reports fuel oil stocks with coal stocks as some Ukrainian power plants use fuel oil to initiate coal burning. Fuel oil also used by power plants as a reserve fuel for power generation. Ukraine’s overall power consumption rose to 17,253 MW as of Monday, up from 16,958 MW a week ago, UkrEnergo said.
The country’s nuclear power plants operated with total capacity of 9,261 MW as of Monday, fossil fuel-burning power plants operated at 7,203 MW, hydropower plants operated at 673 MW and wind-powered plants at 116 MW, the company said.
