DTEK ENERGY and Centrenergo PJSC made an agreement for the delivery of 75 thousand tonnes of thermal coal with an American company. A vessel carrying the fuel will arrive in Ukraine in the next few months. The coal will be distributed in equal portions (37.5 thousand tonnes each) between private- and state-operated TPPs.
‘Ukraine will soon enter the heating season, and our common task is to pass it steadily so that Ukrainians will have light and heat. Coal imports have become possible once the situation on the electricity market returned to normal, which allowed the company to achieve economically justified prices and find the resources required to prepare the generation plants for the autumn and winter season,’ said Ildar Salieiev, DTEK ENERGY CEO.
‘Last year, the Ukrainian energy system faced a difficult situation due to severe frosts and insufficient coal stock. That’s why stable operation of the energy system is our top priority. Additional coal stocks will allow us to get through the heating season smoothly, without the need to use gas or import electricity. Centrenergo also remains the only consumer of coal from state-owned mines, which almost fully satisfies the needs of the company,’ noted representatives of Centrenergo PJSC.
To pass through the heating season smoothly and meet the demand for fuel from the generation capacities, DTEK ENERGY commissioned 17 new longwalls and produced almost 10 million tonnes of G-grade coal in the first seven months of 2021.
Apart from the priority production of Ukrainian coal, DTEK ENERGY has also recently started importing it from Poland. The first shipment of 2,700 tonnes of Polish coal arrived in Ukraine on 19 August. The coal was delivered under the agreement that has been recently signed by the company and Bogdanka, a coal mining company, and provides for the import of 320 thousand tonnes of thermal coal from the neighbouring country. DTEK ENERGY also expects fuel deliveries from Kazakhstan.