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Energy Bridge has geopolitical significance, says Polenergia

Friday, 4 December 2020

Grzegorz Stanislavsky, a member of the supervisory board of the Polish company Polenergia, as well as of the management board of the Ukraine Power Bridge Company, has insisted that the Ukraine-European Union Energy Bridge project should go ahead. The project has geopolitical significance, not only for Energoatom and the Ukrainian state, he said, but above all for the countries of Europe, "which are forced to fight for their energy independence".

Energy Bridge has geopolitical significance, says Polenergia — Polenergia's Grzegorz Stanislavsky speaking about the Energy Bridge project on 2 December (Image: Energoatom)

Ukrainian nuclear power plant operator Energoatom operates all of Ukraine's four nuclear power plants - Zaporozhe, Rovno, South Ukraine and Khmelnitsky - which comprise 15 units. The Energy Bridge would link Khmelnitsky 2 to Burshtyn Energy Island and connect with power lines to Rzeszów in Poland and Albertirsa in Hungary. The unit would be disconnected from the national grid and transferred to the ENTSO-E network.

According to an Energoatom statement on 2 December, Stanislavski said the Energy Bridge would guarantee the stable supply of clean and affordable electricity to Europe. He said Ukrainian nuclear power could be supplied, for example, through Poland as a transit zone to the Baltic countries. In this way, Energoatom will enhance those countries' energy security.

"It is important that Ukraine, which has 55,000 megawatts of capacity, can become the heart of the energy hub of Central and Eastern Europe," he said.

Energoatom's acting president, Petr Kotin, stressed that the company wants the project to work, "despite recent obstacles". He said: "We, for our part, are doing everything possible to implement it. The main thing for Energoatom remains getting the opportunity to conclude a contract for the supply to the EU of carbon-free electricity produced by Ukrainian nuclear power plants. We have repeatedly stressed that any suggestion that the project could damage the integration of Ukraine's Joint Power System with ENTSO-E is unfounded."

The Energy Bridge was conceived from the very beginning, he said, as one of the steps towards synchronisation of the Ukrainian power reactors with the European power grid, and "by no means as an alternative to this process".

Energoatom Vice-President Herman Haluschenko also stressed the strategic importance of the project for Ukraine: "Yes, we had a dissonance with the position of the Ministry of Energy, which was actually talking about winding it down, but we have always been guided by the understanding that the Energy Bridge is not just an energy project. It is a national project that will provide Ukraine with a role as a powerful player in the European energy market." He added: "Today, we must unite our efforts to prove convincingly that all its participants benefit from the implementation of the Energy Bridge project." The project would also assist Europe's transition to hydrogen energy, he said.

In August 2019, the Ministry of Energy announced the winner of the tender to implement the public-private partnership in the project consortium, Ukraine Power Bridge Company Limited. The consortium includes Westinghouse, EDF, Polenergia International and Hungarian national energy company MVM.