Russian Damage to Ukraine’s Energy Sector Exceeds $55 Billion – KSE Report

Of the total damage caused to Ukraine’s energy sector following Russia’s full-scale invasion, the greatest has been to electricity generation, main electricity transmission lines, as well as oil and gas infrastructure. The findings are according to a report by the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE).

Analysts Ihor Piddubny and Dmytro Goriunov for the KSE calculated the total bill for restoring the energy sector to be $50.5 billion, which includes the complete reconstruction of destroyed facilities using up-to-date technologies (Build Back Better policy).

Private thermal power plants have sustained 80 percent (critical) damage, whie about half of high-voltage electricity transmission substations have been damaged.

Russian forces have also destroyed all oil refineries in Ukraine and a significant portion of oil and oil product storage infrastructure.

In the short term, it is necessary for Ukraine to restore damaged power plants, build small flexible capacities, energy storage and other backup power sources, and build higher levels of protection for main electricity transmission lines.

It is also important to form energy equipment reserves in case of new missile strikes, according to the report’s authors.

Additionally, Ukraine needs to expand cross-border electricity trade through the ENTSO-E network from 1.7 GW to 2.2 GW.

Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia has occupied generation capacities totaling 16 GW overall. This includes:

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• 6 GW of the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant
• 7 GW of thermal generation (Zaporizhzhia Thermal Power Plant (TPP), Vuhlehirsk TPP, Luhansk TPP)
• 5 GW of cogeneration (Severodonetsk and Myronivska CHPP)
• 2 GW of wind power plants
• 9 GW of solar power plants
• 57 MW of biogas plants.

Prior to February 2022, Ukraine had 56 GW of installed capacity – sometimes called nameplate capacity – and 36 GW of actual capacity.

Half of Ukraine’s installed capacity came from TPPs, with the remainder distributed between nuclear power plants (NPPs), hydropower and pumped storage plants (HPPs), and renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and biomass.

Official figures point to Ukraine having lost more than half of its power generation capacity due to infrastructure being damaged, destroyed, or forced under Russian occupation.