According to the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine, coal reserves in the warehouses of thermal power plants have decreased by almost 8% since the beginning of this month and continue to rapidly decrease every day.
Ukrainian thermal power plants consume 51.8 thousand tons of solid fuel daily, and during this time they receive only 41.3 thousand tons of coal. Therefore, if on July 1 there were 1.28 million tons of coal at the power plants, then on July 12 there were 1.18 million tons of it, because in 12 days the thermal power plants burned 100 thousand tons of fuel. At the same time, reserves of G grade (power) coal have decreased by 11% since the beginning of the month, to 925 thousand tons.
The lowest reserves of grade A (anthracite) coal were recorded at the state-owned Trypilska TPP near Kiev - only 17 thousand tons. They will only last for 7 days of station operation.
Recall that as of early July, every third thermal power plant in Ukraine was operating with minimal load, and Slavyanskaya had been idle for more than a week.
Experts say that the main reason for the shutdown of power units at TPPs and CHPPs is an abnormal drop in electricity prices due to the machinations of traders.
Even Energy Minister German Galushchenko was forced to admit that the collapse in prices led to a financial imbalance of state-owned companies and jeopardized preparations for the autumn-winter period, and also that for all types of generation such price indicators are deeply unprofitable.
Due to a possible shutdown of the thermal power plant, it is possible that the coal mines will stop working, said Mikhail Volynets, chairman of the Independent Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine.
