Atlantic Council reports that Kyiv is was scheduled to disconnect its electricity transmission system completely from its neighbouring countries on February 24 to 26. It is part of a compulsory test to see how Ukraine’s electricity system would operate in isolation before joining the European system in 2023. Europe’s Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) has 39 operators from 35 countries across Europe and has its headquarters in Brussels.
But after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a “full-scale invasion” of Ukraine, there are fears that the experiment could go horribly wrong.
Dev Zedd wrote on Twitter: “Another huge issue why we’ve got to act fast – electricity.
“Ukraine was sourcing most of the electricity from Russia and Belarus.
“They stopped supplying. So it is expected that most people will be without electricity within the next 3-4 days and not able to call for help.”
No imports are permitted while the Ukrainian system is decoupled from Russia during the test.
And it could be the case that Russia does not let the Ukraine system re-join its grid.
This may even be highly likely given the state of the conflict that is currently emerging.
This morning, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that 137 Ukrainian’s have already been killed.
And Russia sent tanks rolling into Kyiv while locals flee to shelter as air sirens ring across the city.
Amid the military combat, there are also fears of cyber attacks.
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“This certainly has benefits, but it also has downsides, like the possibility of everything getting hacked. When we connect the safety critical things that our lives depend on to the Internet, such as the power grid, cars, and hospitals, these things become hackable, too.
“This could have catastrophic consequences following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”
Back in 2015 and 2016, hacks on electricity substations caused widespread power cuts that were blamed on the Russians by the EU, UK and Ukraine.
There have been suggestions that Ukraine should delay the test.
But Ukrenergo, the company operating the transmission lines, has claimed that the system is fully prepared.
The company’s CEO, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, claims Ukraine has more than 700,000 tons of coal at the ready.
And is expected to boost up this amount to 1.2 million tons by the end of February or early March.
Mr Kudrytskyi argues that this will do enough to allow thermal power plants to operate at capacity while the system is isolated from Russia.