Kyiv (agencies)
The company operating the electricity grid in Ukraine announced yesterday that the harsh winter weather had cut off electricity to more than 1,000 towns and villages in nine regions, and urged residents to conserve energy after recent Russian strikes weakened the energy system.
Okrnergo said that electricity consumption reached its highest levels this week as temperatures dropped to about minus 15 degrees Celsius in many parts of the country.
She added via the Telegram application: “The level of consumption continues to grow due to the significant drop in temperatures throughout the country,” adding that electricity consumption in the morning was already 5.8% higher than the previous day.
Okrnergo indicated that the weather caused severe damage to distribution networks due to strong winds, frost, and the formation of a thick layer of ice on the equipment, which delayed repair work.
The company explained, “Currently, electricity is sufficient to supply all consumers for homes and for commercial purposes, but the large increase in consumption creates an additional load on power plants, which are already operating at their maximum capacity, and need to increase their generation very quickly and significantly, and this can lead to “unrest.” “Technology.”
She added that Ukraine had to import electricity from neighboring Romania and Slovakia to be able to meet the demand.
It was reported that Ukrainian thermal power plants are still recovering from the massive Russian strikes that occurred last winter, and that solar power plants were unable to operate at full capacity due to heavy clouds and bad weather conditions.
In this context, a cold wave is hitting the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, causing power outages and problems in the transportation sector in Poland.
The Polish Meteorological Institute, which had previously monitored very low temperatures reaching minus 23 degrees Celsius in the northeast of the country, issued a warning of a severe cold wave that would affect most regions, with temperatures expected to drop again during this week.
In the northeast of the country, electricity was cut off to 2,200 homes, while school buses stopped running.
In Daugavpils, Latvia's second largest city, the temperature dropped to minus 29.5 degrees Celsius yesterday.
In neighboring Lithuania, where it was recorded at minus 28 degrees Celsius in Zarasai in the west, a woman died on Saturday due to the cold. Primary school students were allowed to stay home in most parts of the country.
Also, the National Meteorological Service in Hungary expected temperatures to drop to minus 12 degrees Celsius during the weekend.
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