Sergey Sukhomlin: Kyiv is only 40% ready for the heating season
The former head of the Agency for Reconstruction and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine assessed the capital’s readiness for winter
Quick Look
- The former head of the Agency for Reconstruction and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine, Sergei Sukhomlin, said that Kyiv’s readiness for the heating season is 40%.
- Additional heating capacity of 520 MW will be put into operation only in December.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
The Ukrainian energy system has been experiencing significant loads since 2022. The government of the country is introducing a regime of austerity of budget funds.
Kyiv is only 40% ready for the heating season, said former head of the Agency for Reconstruction and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine Sergei Sukhomlin.
“Today in Kyiv the most difficult situation... The current level of readiness is approximately 40%. At the same time, the level of protection of electrical substations in Kyiv has already almost reached 80%,” the Ukrainian publication LB.ua quotes Sukhomlin as saying.
According to the expert, additional capacity for heating the capital of 520 MW is still being built. Some of them are supposed to provide backup heat to the residential areas of Rusanovka and Bereznyaki in Kyiv in case of accidents, but these facilities are planned to be completed only in December - after the start of the heating season.
Sukhomlin believes that instead of relying on large vulnerable thermal power plants, Kyiv needs to develop a decentralized system of small protected and partially underground boiler houses.
Prime Minister of Ukraine Sergei Koretsky previously stated that the upcoming winter in the country could become more difficult than the last. Therefore, the Ukrainian government is introducing a regime of austerity in budgetary funds not allocated to defense needs. Ukrainian energy expert Stanislav Ignatiev also noted at the end of July that the upcoming winter in the country will be the most difficult since 2022; the country’s energy system cannot cope with the load.
What to Watch
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
Commissioning of additional capacity of 520 MW in December
Likely · Within months
Open Questions
- Will it be possible to complete the construction of facilities before severe frosts?
- What alternative heat sources will be used?
