Shmygal named the reason for the large-scale power outage in Ukraine: details
31 January 13:19
On the morning of January 31, a technical failure occurred between the power grids of Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine, resulting in a simultaneous power outage. This caused a cascading power outage.
This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to a Telegram post by Ukrainian Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal.
“Today at 10:42 a.m., a technical failure occurred, causing a simultaneous shutdown of the 400 kV line between the power grids of Romania and Moldova and the 750 kV line between the western and central parts of Ukraine,” Shmyhal said.
According to him, this caused a cascade shutdown in Ukraine’s power grid and triggered automatic protection mechanisms at substations. Nuclear power plant units were unloaded.
Currently, special emergency shutdown schedules are in effect in Kyiv, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, and Kharkiv regions.
“Ukrenergo’s energy specialists are working to restore power supply. Electricity will be restored within the next few hours,” the minister added.
The Ministry of Energy clarified that, according to experts’ forecasts, power will be restored within the next 2-3 hours.
Zelensky’s reaction
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he had already heard reports from Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko and Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal on the emergency situation in Ukraine’s power system.
“All necessary responses at the level of the Ukrainian power grid are in place, and restoration work is underway. The task is to stabilize the situation in the near future,” the head of state said.
