Ukrenergo planning power supply restrictions in Ukraine throughout the day on Thurs

MOSCOW. May 23 (Interfax) - The Ukrenergo power grid operator plans to introduce hourly power outage schedules in Ukraine throughout the day on Thursday.

This is due to expected cloudy conditions on Thursday, which will reduce electricity production by solar farms, Ukrainian media outlets said, citing information circulated by Ukrenergo on social media on Wednesday evening.

The planned hourly power cut schedules will be in effect both for households and industrial consumers, the company said.

As reported, hourly power cut schedules were introduced from 7:00 p.m. and until the end of the day on Wednesday.

The amounts allocated by Ukrenergo will be sufficient to cover 75% of Kiev's electricity needs on average, Ukrainian media said, citing DTEK.

Power consumption caps will be set for Kiev, DTEK said. At the same time, electricity suppliers will resort to stabilizing power outages throughout the day on Thursday.

Consumers will be informed in due course in the event of any changes, DTEK said.

Dense clouds in the majority of regions are not allowing solar farms to operate at their maximum capacity in daylight hours, prompting the introduction of power supply caps for industrial consumers and households in all of Ukraine's regions throughout the day, Ukrainian media said at midday on Thursday, citing Ukrenergo.

Ukrenergo's operations control center notified each regional grid operator of the consumption limits, saying that hourly power cut schedules will be put into effect if they are exceeded, it said.

For instance, according to YASNO power supplier general director Sergei Kovalenko, the amounts of consumption set by Ukrenergo for Thursday are sufficient to cover 75% of Kiev's electricity needs and 87% of electricity needs of Dnepropetrovsk region residents.

Ukraine on Thursday is receiving emergency assistance from three European countries (Romania, Poland and Slovakia) during the daylight hours as well, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., though it was previously used at night, in the morning and in the evening. In particular, emergency assistance was used from midnight to 1:00 a.m. and from 9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Wednesday.

Ukraine also received excess electricity from Poland from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the request of the Polish power grid operator.

Electricity imports dropped 12% to 13,990 MWh on Thursday day-on-day. But its maximum capacity topped 1,500 MW in certain hours, nearing the maximum import capacity set at 1,700 MW. Power exports from Ukraine have long been absent.

A total of 418 populated localities across Ukraine were without electricity for various reasons on Thursday morning, Ukrenergo said.