Ukrenergo uses nearly half of int'l funding for restoring grids, one-third to support market liquidity - statement
MOSCOW. July 22 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian national power grid operator Ukrenergo has utilized nearly half of international financing in the amount of over 1.5 billion euros raised since the start of the crisis to repair and reconstruct its infrastructure, Ukrainian media reported with reference to Ukrenergo's statement on its social account.
Another 24% of this amount has been used to build passive safeguards and 34% to support market liquidity.
The entire amount of international support is monitored by international partners and is intended for restoring damaged assets, procuring high-voltage equipment, and supporting the electricity market's liquidity, it said.
In the future, the funding will be used not for emergency repairs, as they have been completed and Ukrenergo has no transmission restrictions now, but precisely for ensuring the grid's resilience, it said.
"It is precisely owing to international support that we have restored the grid's capacity of transmitting electricity around the country. Already now, the high-voltage infrastructure is capable of transmitting several times more electricity than Ukrainian power plants are generating," Ukrenergo said.
The largest share in this financing, 670 million euros, has been provided by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), another 324 million euros came with support from Germany's state development bank KfW, 224 million euros from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), and 136 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB), it said.
In addition, Ukrenergo has been provided with equipment valued in total at nearly 190 million euros, which was procured and delivered with support from international organizations such as USAID, UNDP, JICA, and Energy Community, it said.
Ukrenergo has also received 711,000 pieces of electrical equipment in humanitarian aid valued in total at 23 million euros, having established contacts with over 100 companies from 30 countries.
As reported, Ukrenergo and KfW agreed on a 100-million-euro grant on July 18.
The European Commission has authorized KfW to provide funding to Ukrenergo under the EU's special budget program, Ukraine Investment Facility, and ensure the funding and implementation of a number of priority energy projects, including upgrading high-voltage substations in western parts of Ukraine, developing inter-state interconnectors with Europe, repairing and restoring damaged equipment at high-voltage substations, procuring and supplying new equipment, and enhancing physical protection of Ukrenergo's substations, it said.
