Ukraine's PM on whether amount of gas and coal is enough for winter
Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal (Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
Ukraine has almost completed preparations for the heating season. The gas and coal stockpiled should be sufficient for winter, according to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal during a government meeting.
He said that Ukraine is on the brink of the heating season, with infrastructure being the first area of focus.
"Today, the readiness of residential buildings stands at over 99%. The number of schools, kindergartens, and hospitals prepared for winter is also approaching 100%. More than 18,000 boiler houses and 4,800 central heating points are at the readiness stage for heating supply," the Prime Minister said.
According to Shmyhal, the second focus area is resource accumulation. He mentioned that Ukraine's gas storage facilities currently hold 12.2 billion cubic meters of blue fuel, as well as 3.1 million tons of coal in stock.
"This is enough to get through the winter. All nine nuclear power plant units under Ukraine's control are currently operational," the head of government added.
Another important focus area is the establishment of decentralized generation. Programs for energy resilience are operating with the provision of preferential loans. In total, banks have already issued loans worth 2 billion hryvnias to various categories of borrowers under these programs.
Heating season 2024
The heating season begins at different times in various regions of Ukraine. The decision on when to turn on heating is made by local authorities, but there is a general rule: usually, the heating season starts when the air temperature drops below +8 degrees Celsius for three consecutive days.
Earlier, energy officials stated that they do not anticipate a return to scheduled power outages due to the cold in Ukraine.
However, Ukrenergo reports a slight increase in electricity consumption, noting that it corresponds to seasonal indicators.
