Ukraine’s largest thermal power plant in Zaporizhia Oblast violates the electricity production law and endangers energy stability in the country, the Security Service of Ukraine stated in a letter to the Cabinet of Ministers.
The letter from the state law enforcement agency known as the SBU was published by Liga news outlet on April 24. According to it, the plant experienced four emergency shutdowns of power units over the last 12 years amid a number of violations and outdated equipment.
“The unreliable work of the plant increases the threat to the operational security of the unified energy system, and violates the security of electricity supplies,” the letter reads.
Built in the 1970s, the plant is located 720 kilometers southeast of Kyiv near the city of Energodar and is currently owned by the DTEK energy holding of oligarch Rinat Akhmetov.
The plant, which supplies electricity to the southern regions of Ukraine, produced 5.5 megawatts in 2019, or 12% of the country’s total electricity.
The latest shutdown on the plant was in February, after which Energodar and nearby villages lost electricity for a while.
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“Identifying the causes of accidents at thermal power plants is a reason for a serious investigation and analysis of professional bodies,” said Energodar Mayor Dmytro Orlov back then.
In the document, Serhiy Andrushchenko, SBU’s deputy chairman, advised the Cabinet of Ministers to instruct the Energy Ministry, so it would devise a program for the plant’s renovation that would help avoid damage to the country’s critical infrastructure.
In a comment for Liga, DTEK denied the accusations and called them “one-sided, biased and not based on a formal investigation.”
The company’s press service also added that all urgent repairs were performed on time. “DTEK Energo emphasizes that energy security depends on all participants in the energy market. Therefore, formal analysis and elimination of the root causes of accidents is needed to prevent such cases in the future.”
