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during the heating season. "The repair campaign is actively underway. We are also taking measures to ensure additional generation, which was unavailable in Ukraine until now," the minister said.
Almost all thermal power stations damaged by Russia repaired. Almost 100% of thermal power stations damaged by Russian attacks late in 2022 and early in 2023 have been repaired, Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov announced on July 31.
Ukraine may buy two Russian nuclear reactors from Bulgaria. Ukraine is close to concluding an agreement with Bulgaria on purchasing two Russian-made nuclear reactors and other critical energy equipment, reported the WSJ. According to the agreement, the negotiations of which are still ongoing, the Bulgarian state energy company NEK will sell equipment from the unfinished Belene NPP to the Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom for at least €600M. Since it will be difficult for Ukraine to afford such an amount, one of the options discussed between Bulgarian and American officials is that the US will contribute in the form of aid to Ukraine. However, another settlement option is also being considered, where Bulgaria will receive a minority stake in the Ukrainian Khmelnytsky NPP where the equipment will be installed.
9.1.10 Renewables sector news
State energy trader ECU guarantees the sale of 100% green electricity to its counterparties. JSC Energy Company of Ukraine has concluded the first agreements with energy producers from renewable energy sources (RES) regarding balancing services and guaranteed purchase of electricity, said the General Director of ECU, Vitaliy Butenko. The energy company can become part of the solution to investors' problems in green energy. "We help to create additional value for industry producers and reduce their risks of working on the free energy market. At the same time, green generation does not need to create its trading department, which allows renewable energy producers to take advantage of new market opportunities as safely as possible," said the head of the ECU. According to him, the balancing service is in demand due to the difficulty of forecasting RES production. It helps RES producers eliminate financial costs and optimize imbalances through the mechanisms of the state balancing group, the second-largest market.
9.1.11 Metallurgy & mining sector news
Developing Mariupol's steel mills using green technologies will take up to five years. Resumption of production at Azovstal in Mariupol after refitting using green technology may take three to five years, stated the GM of the Metinvest group, Yuriy Ryzhenkov. He added that if we are talking only about Mariupol, then Metinvest has a vision of its restoration. Therefore, the city needs a new strategy, particularly a new industrial one. "We have no desire to restore the old technology that existed at the Azovstal Metallurgical Plant because it is already outdated. Today the whole world is moving towards green metallurgy, towards electrometallurgy, and the restoration of our plants in Mariupol will take place in this direction. Therefore, the restoration of production using new green technologies will take more time because it will be necessary to build almost from scratch. It will take three to five years," Ryzhenkov said.
58 UKRAINE Country Report August 2023 www.intellinews.com