Ukraine’s battered energy grid braces for ‘intense heat’

KYIV: Ukraine was braced on Monday for an “intense” spike in temperatures over the coming days, with an eastward-moving heatwave set to heap pressure on the country’s struggling power grid.

Russian drone and missile attacks have decimated Ukraine’s energy network since Moscow invaded in February 2022 – causing tens of billions of dollars’ worth of damage and leading to frequent power outages in the coldest and hottest parts of the year.

The World Health Organization said it had recorded more than 1,300 excess deaths in Europe since June 21.

The wave of record-breaking temperatures is now heading east into Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Romania and western Ukraine this week.

Grid operators in at least five regions – from Ivano-Frankivsk in the west to Zaporizhzhia on the front line in the south – announced temporary restrictions on energy usage would be in force during parts of Tuesday.

The state Hydrometeorological Centre said the country would face “intense heat”, with temperatures of 35°C-38°C expected on Monday.

“The heat is also a serious test for equipment that has been operating under wartime conditions for more than four years and has withstood numerous attacks,” Sergii Kovalenko, CEO of the Yasno energy company, said over the weekend.

He said that summer was the peak period for repairing the energy network, battered through the winter by repeat Russian attacks, meaning the grid was already “operating at the limit of its capabilities”.

“That is why in the coming days the power system will be operating in a very strained mode,” he added.