Ukraine has accumulated a large amount of coal: why it is an anti-record
10 January 16:12
Ukraine has accumulated 3 million tons of coal, setting a record for the last 20 years. This was announced on January 10 by Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal during an hour of questions to the government in parliament, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
“We have about 3 million tons of coal in our warehouses. This is a historic figure, if not for the entire history, then for the last 20 years for sure,” the Prime Minister said.
Shmyhal explained that this situation arose because the Russian military destroyed a significant amount of coal-fired generation in Ukraine.
What is the state of coal generation in Ukraine?
According to Maksym Bevz, head of renewable energy and green reconstruction campaigns at the NGO Razom we stand, Ukraine needs to replace old coal-fired power plants built in the middle of the last century.
Our country consumes 30% more coal per 1 kWh than Europe. In addition, as a result of Russia’s military aggression, the fleet of Ukrainian coal-fired power plants suffered significant damage from missile and drone attacks, and numerous coal mines in the occupied territories were shut down and flooded; most thermal power plants were shelled and lost up to 30% of their capacity as of the end of 2023 alone.
On the other hand, Ukraine continues to move forward with reforms and has plans to completely abandon coal in the electricity sector by 2035.
However, on the other hand, industry experts note that the energy crisis has forced the continued use of coal-fired generation in many European countries, even despite existing decisions to close the relevant TPPs.
