You're reading: Concerns over security of energy infrastructure grow as summer comes to an end

One risk that continues to be overlooked in Ukraine's energy sector is that of physical security of energy infrastructure, a recent government paper said.

“Overall, the problem of antiterrorist protection of the critically important infrastructure and potentially dangerous production entities remains unsolved,” according to an internal government analysis paper obtained by the Kyiv Post.

There have been several attacks on energy infrastructure in the past few months. On May 12, there was an explosion at the Ivano Frankivsk branch of major Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod gas pipeline. It was categorized as a terrorist act by a local prosecutor’s office.

It was followed by a similar explosion at the same pipeline in Poltava Oblast on May 17. Moreover, militants damaged nine power plants in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine’s law has many loopholes when it comes to security of energy objects, with the exception of nuclear power plants.

“There’s a special military unit that guards the (Zaporizhya) power plant,” the plant’s former deputy head and current mayor of Zaporizhya Oleksandr Sin told the Kyiv Post. Under Ukraine’s law, all power plants are guarded by armed police. At times of crises the patrols and other security measures are intensified, as was the case during the EuroMaidan revolution last winter.

Regular objects of energy infrastructure have more frequently been the target, particularly in the east of the country. Militants there have targeted both mines and miners, and also stole technological explosives used in mining, Deputy Energy Minister Yuriy Zyukov said in his Aug. 20 interview with Golos Ukrainy, a parliamentary newspaper.

This has stopped coal extraction at 35 mines, which is 30 percent of country’s coal-generating capacity. Major coal producer DTEK alone, which operates 31 mines primarily in the east, has cut production at three of its mines.

Meanwhile, damage to railways damages does not allow shipment of coal to electricity producers. “The problem is very serious,” says Denys Sakva, energy analyst at Dragon Capital, an investment house. The route for delivering coal to power generators in Luhansk now is 10 times longer, reaching almost 1,000 kilometers, while the power plant in Slovyansk is basically cut off of the transportation system.

Moreover, Donbas’ Komsomolets, a major publicly-traded coal mine with a majority stake belonging to DTEK, stopped producing high-quality coal for the electricity maker in central Ukraine’s Kryvy Rig, Sakva added. 

Given that coal-fueled power plants cover as much as 40 percent of nation’s electricity needs, the problem seems to be of critical importance. Some power plants might run out of coal by the end of September or even earlier, says Yuriy Korolchuk, analyst for the Institute of Energy Strategies. However, DTEK’s press service reported that the company, which controls 30 percent of electric energy generation, doesn’t have any coal shortages at this point. 

“The risk of power shortage in Ukraine during the winter has risen,” admits Dragon Capital’s Sakva, though nuclear plants may compensate for some of the losses. As of now, they provide half of the country’s electricity. 

Olga Kosharna, spokesperson for Ukranian Nuclear Forum, an industry association, believes the nuclear plants could potentially provide up to 75 percent of the electricity that the country needs.