Ukraine to Commence Electricity Trading with Hungary and Slovakia

The Ukrainian electricity transmission system operator, "Ukrenergo," is gearing up to conduct its inaugural auctions for the export and import of electricity in collaboration with Hungarian and Slovakian operators. These auctions will take place on the Joint Allocation Platform (JAO), as stated in an official announcement on the organization's website.

The announcement specifies that the rules for electricity distribution at the Hungarian-Ukrainian border will come into effect on the 22nd of February, with applications for delivery starting on the 23rd of February. As for the Slovakian-Ukrainian border, distribution rules will be implemented from the 4th of March, with application acceptance beginning on the 6th of March.

It's worth noting that the introduction of joint auctions is in line with the European Union's requirements for reforming the Ukrainian energy market. Auctions in the directions of Ukraine-Romania and Romania-Ukraine began in early November last year. Additionally, on the 16th of January this year, the first auctions for the distribution of access to interconnectors between Ukraine and Poland took place. As a result, from the 18th of January, Ukraine imported 23,791 MW/h of electricity from Poland.

Recall that The Gaze reported Ukraine's plans to commence construction on four new nuclear reactor units at the Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant this summer or autumn to compensate for the loss of energy capacity due to the war with Russia.

Two of the reactor units, including reactors and associated equipment, will be based on Russian equipment that Ukraine intends to import from Bulgaria. Meanwhile, western technologies from the energy equipment manufacturer Westinghouse will be utilized for the other two reactor units.

It is worth mentioning that the construction of the third and fourth reactor units at the Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant began in the 1980s but was suspended. After gaining independence in 1991, Ukraine built three new nuclear reactors - one each at the Zaporizhzhia, Khmelnytskyi, and Rivne nuclear power plants.

Currently, three nuclear power plants under Ukraine's control generate over 55% of the country's electricity consumption. Kyiv aims to expand this sector to compensate for the occupation of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant by Russia during the invasion of Ukraine.