“Energy Minister Herman Galushchenko has been criticized for delaying the decentralization of the energy sector for two years to reduce vulnerability to Russian attacks: the department began to act in this direction only this summer.”, — write: www.epravda.com.ua
Energy Minister Herman Galushchenko was criticized for the two-year delay in the decentralization of the energy sector: the department began to act in this direction only in the summer, and before that it lobbied for the construction of expensive nuclear reactors.
About this writes the Financial Times newspaper with reference to the opinions of experts and interlocutors.
Critics say decentralization efforts were supposed to begin as early as 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion and began targeting Ukraine’s energy grid. Hundreds of smaller gas stations or renewable energy projects could be built during this time, the newspaper writes.
“The Ministry of Energy is not interested in decentralization. On the contrary, they are more interested in centralization to keep as much of the energy sector, especially generation, under the control of state-owned companies,” said one energy industry official.
According to experts and officials, Galushchenko, instead, lobbied for the construction of large and expensive nuclear reactors, which take seven to ten years to build. Before his appointment as a minister in 2021, he was the vice president of the state nuclear company Energoatom.
The ministry told the Financial Times it had developed a strategy and created the conditions for decentralization, but declined to give specific examples due to military restrictions. The ministry added that the development of nuclear generation will ensure the country’s needs for recovery and energy stability in the future.
Decentralization plans proposed in 2022 have been ignored, said Viktoria Wojcitschka, an energy expert and former member of the parliamentary energy committee.
“We saw how [Галущенко] promotes the project of building new nuclear reactors… it will not help us survive this winter and the next,” she said.
Volodymyr Omelchenko, director of energy programs at the Razumkov Center, told the Financial Times that, in addition to being less vulnerable to attacks, small decentralized power plants can be built in about a year and a half and cost “much cheaper” than repairing or building large generating facilities.
At the same time, the former head of Ukrenergo Volodymyr Kudrytskyi said that the loan scheme for investors in small power plants, introduced in July 2024, will lead to the appearance of dozens of new players on the market and create competition for Energoatom, which the Ministry of Energy tried to postpone.