Preparing for winter: G7+ Coordination Group discusses largest repair campaign and needs of Ukraine’s energy sector

Minister of Energy of Ukraine German Galushchenko took part in a regular meeting of the G7+ Ukraine Energy Coordination Group. The meeting was chaired by Geoffrey Pyatt, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State and coordinator of the G7+ efforts to help Ukraine restore its energy infrastructure.

The meeting was also attended by Deputy Minister of Energy of Ukraine Yaroslav Demchenkov, Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States Oksana Markarova, representative of the European Commission Katarína Mathernová, Deputy Director of the Energy Community Secretariat Dirk Buschle, and heads and representatives of agencies of the G7+ countries and international organisations.

The meeting summarised the results of the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London, focusing on areas of international cooperation to further support Ukraine in countering russian military aggression. Participants in the meeting underlined their readiness to continue supporting Ukraine’s energy sector, particularly in preparing for the next heating season in the face of continued russian attacks.

German Galushchenko thanked the international partners for their support and provided an update on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure repair campaign.

“As part of the largest ever repair campaign at Ukraine’s energy facilities, we are restoring the infrastructure that has been subjected to massive russian attacks, which were most intense during the last heating season. The equipment provided by our international partners and purchased at the expense of the Ukraine Energy Support Fund established under the Energy Community Secretariat is helping us a lot in carrying out the repairs,” the Minister said.

At the same time, he stressed that Ukraine was expecting further hostile attacks on energy facilities in the coming winter, so the need for energy equipment, especially high-voltage equipment, as well as systems that could ensure decentralisation of power generation, in particular gas turbines, remained relevant.

According to the Head of the Ministry of Energy, the possibility of importing electricity from European countries will also be important, so it will be necessary to obtain ENTSO-E approval for the maximum interconnection capacity of up to 2 GW, which is technically possible today.

German Galushchenko stressed that Ukraine had continued to build up its natural gas reserves in underground storage facilities in preparation for next winter. At the same time, Ukraine owns the largest underground gas storage facilities in Europe and offers its European partners to use about 15 bcm of their capacity, certified according to European regulations. Such cooperation will be mutually beneficial for the European and Ukrainian sides, both in economic and security terms.