- Bitcoin miners will struggle to survive the next ‘halving’ event amid electricity costs, debt payments Fortune
- Experts warn 2024 Bitcoin halving to spell ‘death knell’ for crypto miners Finbold – Finance in Bold
- ‘Global Governance’—Leak Reveals ‘Unprecedented’ Plan For Crypto That Could Play Havoc With The Price Of Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB, XRP, Cardano, Dogecoin, Solana, Tron And Litecoin Forbes
- How Bitcoin’s Next Halving Will Affect Struggling Crypto Miners (BTC) Bloomberg
- Struggling Bitcoin Miners Wary of Token’s Big ‘Halving’ Event BNN Bloomberg
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Tag Archives: electricity
Fate of Pleasants Power is a Harbinger of Future Electricity Generation – West Virginia MetroNews
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- Companies say they didn’t volunteer to take over power plant, but they’re willing to take a deep look West Virginia MetroNews
- PSC holds public comment hearing on FirstEnergy utilities’ $35M rate hike proposal to keep coal-fired plant open Charleston Gazette-Mail
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Natural-Gas Prices Plunge as Unseasonably Warm Weather Is Forecast
A sudden thaw across the Northern Hemisphere has melted down natural-gas prices, upending dire forecasts of energy shortages and sinking Vladimir Putin’s plan to squeeze Europe this winter.
It isn’t expected to remain as balmy as it was on Wednesday, when temperatures hit 66-degrees Fahrenheit in New York, but the forecasts that energy traders monitor call for abnormally warm weather extending into February, sapping demand for the heating fuel.
U.S. natural-gas futures for February delivery ended Wednesday at $4.172 per million British thermal units. That is down 57% from the summer highs notwithstanding a 4.6% gain on Wednesday that snapped a four-session losing streak, including an 11% drop on Tuesday.
The price is now about the same as it was a year ago, when temperatures were also warmer than normal and before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine jolted energy markets.
The plunge is a bad omen for drillers, whose shares were among the stock market’s few winners last year. Cheaper gas is good news for households and manufacturers whose budgets have been busted and profit margins pinched by high fuel prices. Though shocks of cold and problems with pipelines could still push up regional prices, less expensive natural gas should help to cool inflation in the months ahead.
There are also major geopolitical implications. Mild weather is driving gas prices lower in Europe, too, spelling relief for the region that coming into the winter faced the possibility of rolling blackouts and factory shutdowns. The war threw energy markets into chaos, but benchmark European natural-gas prices are now less than half of what they were a month ago and lower than any point since the February invasion.
The drop is a welcome surprise for European governments that committed hundreds of billions of dollars to shield consumers and companies from high energy prices. Moscow cut supplies of gas to Europe last year in what European officials described as an attempt to undermine military and financial support for Kyiv.
So far, Russia’s strategy isn’t working. Warm weather is limiting demand, as is a European Union-led effort to curb consumption. But analysts say prices in Europe could shoot up again when the continent tries to refill stores for the 2023-24 winter without much Russian gas.
PHOTOS: How a 102-Year-Old Maritime Law Affects Today’s Home-Heating Prices
Besides being burned to heat roughly half of American homes, natural gas is used for cooking, along with making electricity, plastic, fertilizer, steel and glass. Last year’s high prices were a big driver of the steepest inflation in four decades.
When prices peaked in August, the question was whether there would be enough gas to get through the winter, given record consumption by domestic power producers with few alternatives, as well as demand in Europe, where the race is on to replace Russian gas.
Now the question in the market is how low prices will go.
They were already falling when the late-December storm brought snow to northern cities and stranded travelers. Frigid temperatures prompted a big draw from U.S. natural-gas stockpiles and froze wells in North Dakota and Oklahoma. At its peak, the storm took nearly 21% of U.S. gas supply offline, according to East Daley Analytics, a gas consulting firm.
The demand surge and the supply disruptions were fleeting and failed to counteract forecasts for balmy January weather. Prices were also pushed lower by another delay in the restart of a Texas export facility. It has been offline since a June fire left a lot of gas in the domestic market that would have otherwise been shipped overseas.
Temperatures above 60 degrees Fahrenheit are forecast this week around the Great Lakes and along the Ohio Valley, while highs in the Southeast might reach into the 80s.
As measured in heating-degree days, a population-weighted measure of temperatures below 65 degrees Fahrenheit, this week will be twice as warm relative to normal as the last week of December was cold, said Eli Rubin, senior energy analyst at the gas-trading firm EBW AnalyticsGroup.
The firm estimates that warmer weather over the first half of January will reduce gas demand by about 100 billion cubic feet over that stretch. That is about the volume of gas that the U.S. produces each day. The Energy Information Administration estimates that daily American output hit a record in 2022.
Analysts anticipate similarly strong production in 2023. They expect the year to pass without new LNG export capacity coming online for the first time since 2016, when the U.S. began to ship liquefied natural gas abroad from the Lower 48 States.
“The market is moving from a mind-set of winter scarcity to looking ahead to exiting winter with more in storage, adding production and not adding any new LNG exports,” Mr. Rubin said. “If anything, the market looks oversupplied.”
Analysts have been reducing their gas-price assumptions as well as their outlooks for producers as the first weeks of winter pass without sustained periods of cold weather.
Gabriele Sorbara, an analyst at Siebert Williams Shank, told clients this week that he expected natural gas to average $4.25 in 2023, down from a forecast of $5.50 before the warm spell. As a result, he downgraded shares of
EQT Corp.
, the biggest U.S. producer and one of the top-performing stocks in the S&P 500 last year, from buy to hold.
“EQT will be dead money until estimates recalibrate and there is visibility of a rebound in natural-gas prices,” he wrote in a note to clients.
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS
What price changes are you seeing in your natural-gas bill this winter? Join the conversation below.
Hedge funds and other speculators have, on balance, been bearish on natural-gas prices since the summer, maintaining more wagers on falling prices than on gains, according to Commodity Futures Trading Commission data. Analysts said that is probably the safe bet.
“We continue to caution against any attempts to time a price bottom,” the trading firm Ritterbusch & Associates told clients this week.
—Joe Wallace contributed to this article.
Write to Ryan Dezember at ryan.dezember@wsj.com
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Rising Power Prices in Europe Are Making EV Ownership More Expensive
BERLIN—Rocketing electricity prices are increasing the cost of driving electric vehicles in Europe, in some cases making them more expensive to run than gas-powered models—a change that could threaten the continent’s electric transition.
Electricity prices have soared in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in some cases eliminating the cost advantage at the pump that EVs have enjoyed. In some cases, the cost difference between driving both types of cars 100 miles has become negligible. In others, EVs have become more expensive to fuel than equivalent gasoline-powered cars.
The price rises for power, which economists expect to last for years, remove a powerful incentive for consumers who were contemplating a switch to EVs, which used to be much cheaper to run than combustion engines.
Coming just as some governments are removing subsidies for EV buyers, this change could slow down EV sales, threaten the region’s greenhouse-gas emission targets, and make it hard for European car makers to recoup the high costs of their electric transition.
In Germany,
Tesla
has raised supercharger prices several times this year, most recently to 0.71 euros in September before falling somewhat, according to reports from Tesla owners on industry forums. There is no public source to track prices on Tesla superchargers.
At that price, drivers of Tesla’s Model 3, the most efficient all-electric vehicle in the Environment Protection Agency’s fuel guide in the midsize vehicle category, would pay €18.46 at a Tesla supercharger station in Europe for a charge sufficient to drive 100 miles.
By comparison, drivers in Germany would pay €18.31 for gasoline to drive the same distance in a Honda Civic 4-door, the equivalent combustion-engine model in the EPA’s ranking.
Tesla didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The change has been particularly notable in Germany, Europe’s largest car market, where household electricity cost €0.43 per kWh on average in December. This puts it well ahead of France, where consumers paid €0.21 per kWh in the first half of the year, but behind Denmark, where a kWh cost €0.46, according to the German statistics office.
The cost of electricity isn’t the only factor that can make an EV cheaper or more expensive to run than a gas-powered car. The price of the car, including potential subsidies, the cost of insurance and the price of maintenance all play a role in the cost equation over a car’s lifetime.
Maria Bengtsson, a partner at Ernst & Young responsible for the company’s EV business in the U.K., said studies of the total cost of owning an EV now show that with much higher electricity prices, it will take longer for EVs to become more affordable than conventional vehicles.
“When we looked at this before the energy crisis, we were looking at a tipping point of around 2023 to 2024. But if you assume you have a tariff going forward of $0.55, the tipping point then moves to 2026.”
If costs for operating EVs rise again, the tipping point would be pushed even further into the future, she said.
So far, there is no sign that the higher costs to charge electric cars has affected EV sales. Sales of all-electric cars totaled 259,449 vehicles in the three months to the end of September, up 11% from the previous quarter and 22% from the year earlier, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association. In the third quarter, all-electric cars accounted for 11.9% of total new vehicle sales in the EU.
There is no relief in sight for EV users. In Germany, power prices have risen by a third from €0.33 per kWh in the first half of this year, according to Germany’s federal statistics office, and some power companies have announced prices will increase to more than €0.50 per kWh in January.
The German government’s independent panel of economic experts forecast that in the medium term these prices are likely to decline but won’t return to precrisis levels, meaning that higher costs for EV owners are here to stay.
Rheinenergie, a municipal utility in Cologne, said in November that it would raise its prices to €0.55 per kWh in January. In October, EnBW, a Stuttgart-based regional power company, raised its prices for a kWh of electricity to €0.37, up 37% from the previous month.
The most expensive way to charge an EV in Europe is on one of the fast-charging networks. Operators such as Tesla, Allego and Ionity have built roadside charging stations along major highways, where EV owners can drive up, plug in, and charge their batteries in as little as 15 minutes.
Fuel-economy estimates calculated by the EPA and current charging and gas prices in Europe show that some conventional vehicles are now cheaper to fuel with gasoline than equivalent electric models using fast-charging stations.
In the subcompact segment of the EPA’s 2023 Fuel Economy Guide, the Mini Cooper Hardtop was the most efficient model among EVs and gasoline-powered cars.
A 100-mile ride cost the Mini EV owner €26.35 at the Allego fast-charging network, which charges €0.85 per kWh. The conventional Mini cost €20.35 to pump enough fuel to accomplish the same journey.
Mini and its owner,
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG
, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the small two-door SUV category, the gasoline-powered Nissan Rogue handily beats the Hyundai Kona Electric, at a cost difference of €19.97 to €22.95. The Subaru Ascent standard SUV with four-wheel drive costs less to drive 100 miles than the Tesla Model X.
If an EV owner only charges their vehicle at home, they are generally still paying less for driving than conventional car users, although this gap has narrowed considerably.
Analysts say about 80% of EV charging takes place at home or at work, so if an electric vehicle is only used close to home it generally remains the least expensive option. But once the vehicle is used for longer road trips, drivers are more likely to use fast-charging stations because other options would take too long to charge the battery.
Charging a Tesla on 120V AC power—the power that comes from a standard U.S. wall socket—would take days. In Europe, 230V is the AC standard, according to Germany’s ZVEI electronics-industry association. European chargers installed on street corners, at supermarkets, places of work and in home garages can charge a powered down Tesla battery overnight.
The supercharger networks run on DC power, requiring at least 480 volts of power, and can charge up to around 200 miles of range within 15 minutes.
Write to William Boston at william.boston@wsj.com
Corrections & Amplifications
Standard household power is 120 volts in the U.S. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said 120 volts is the standard in Europe. (Corrected on Dec. 25)
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
PJM urges customers to conserve electricity due to frigid temperatures
VALLEY FORGE, Pennsylvania (WPVI) — Frigid temperatures are having an effect on the power grid.
PJM Interconnection, the local electricity grid operator, is asking customers to conserve energy starting Saturday at 4 a.m. through Sunday at 10 a.m.
Electricity use right now is higher than usual and officials say conservation is important to prevent any power outages.
PJM says some steps you can take to conserve electricity are setting your thermostat lower than usual, if your health permits. Another option is avoid using major appliances like stoves, dishwashers and dryers, and turning off non-essential electric lights and equipment.
PJM says this will ensure adequate power supplies during these frigid temperatures.
PJM Interconnection is the electricity grid operator for 65 million people in 13 states and the District of Columbia.
They will continue to monitor power supply conditions and will do everything possible to keep power flowing.
If necessary, PJM states that they will reduce voltage.
Copyright © 2022 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.
Hungarian experts unconvinced by Azeri electricity ‘megadeal’ – EURACTIV.com
The Capitals brings you the latest news from across Europe, through on-the-ground reporting by EURACTIV’s media network. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.
The European news you deserve to read. Welcome to The Capitals by EURACTIV.
In today’s news from the Capitals:
Hungarian energy experts are unconvinced by the green and security promises of a new Brussels-backed electricity cable project with Azerbaijan. Read more.
///
EU INSTITUTIONS
Europe’s car industry must look to the future, not the past. Most European car makers have already declared that they will go full electric by 2035, some of them sooner. The EU’s task is to get ready for this transformation, writes Frans Timmermans.
Frans Timmermans is the European Commission’s vice-president in charge of the Green Deal. Read the op-ed.
///
PARIS
French GPs urged to not strike over difficult Christmas. French GPs, some of whom went on strike over low consultation fees at the start of December, should not continue strikes over the holiday period- a time when viruses are flourishing- Health Minister François Braun told Journal du Dimanche on Sunday. Read more.
///
VIENNA
Austria’s Nehammer champions EU border fences. Fences are key in protecting the EU at its borders, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said in an interview on Sunday, citing the time when the fence at the border with Turkey and Greece allowed Greek border authorities to stop irregular migrants from entering. Read more.
///
BRUSSELS
NGOs ask Belgium to rally against new pesticide assessments. Several NGOs are asking Belgium not to go along with the majority of member states who will likely ask the European Commission to carry out an additional impact assessment on EU pesticide reduction objectives at the Council summit on Monday. Read more.
///
THE HAGUE
Dutch military aid to Ukraine almost tips €1 billion. The Netherlands has now provided Ukraine with €987 million in military aid, Defence Minister Kajsa Ollongren told the Dutch parliament in a letter on Friday. Read more.
UK & IRELAND
LONDON
At Riga summit, Sunak to call for increasing lethal aid to Ukraine. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will meet his Nordic, Baltic and Dutch counterparts at the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) summit in the Latvian capital Riga on Monday, before heading to Estonia to meet British and NATO troops, the government said. Read more.
NORDICS AND BALTICS
HELSINKI
Hydrogen infrastructure projects launched to connect Finland and Central Europe. State-owned company and transmission system operator Gasgrid Finland signed a project agreement to develop a new piece of the regional hydrogen infrastructure network on Friday. Read more.
EUROPE’S SOUTH
ATHENS
Moscow warns Athens about sending S-300 missile system to Ukraine. Russia’s permanent representative Crimea Georgy Muratov warned Greece not to transfer Russia-made anti-aircraft missile systems S-300 to Ukraine, saying it would be an ‘irrational display of hostility towards Russia’. Read more.
///
LISBON
Portugal: One in seven babies born to foreign mothers in 2021. Of the almost 80,000 babies born in 2021 in Portugal, more than 10,000 or about 14%, have foreign mothers, according to a survey released on Sunday by Pordata. Read more.
VISEGRAD
PRAGUE
Czech EU presidency to propose €188 gas price cap compromise. The Czech EU Council Presidency would like energy ministers from across the Union to agree to cap gas at €188 per megawatt-hour (MWh) in Brussels on Monday. Read more.
///
WARSAW
Polish opposition notifies prosecution of irregularities in state fuel merger. The public prosecutor’s office has been notified of the significant inaccuracies in the recent merger between the Lotos fuel company and PKN Orlen, the largest fuel company in Central and Eastern Europe that is also majority state-owned, representatives of the parliamentary opposition announced during a press conference. Read more.
///
Polish ruling camp says it predicted Ukraine war, accuses opposition of sabotage. The ruling PiS party claims it knew the war in Ukraine would break out, while the opposition, which appeared to have been partly “engaged” in the Kremlin’s plan, went so far as to take steps to sabotage the country’s preparations for a potential Russian attack. Read more.
///
BRATISLAVA
EU lawmakers on Slovakia mission point to worrying LGBTQ, Roma situation. An EU Parliament Monitoring Delegation expressed concern over the equal rights situation in Slovakia regarding LGBTQI+ and Roma communities and called on the government to step up its efforts in recognising their rights. Read more.
NEWS FROM THE BALKANS
SOFIA
Bulgaria launches investigation into pro-Russian paramilitaries. Sofia’s Prosecutor’s Office ordered the country’s counter-intelligence agency to start investigations into the activities of an alleged pro-Russian paramilitary organisation following a tip that the organisation had committed crimes against the republic. Read more.
///
LJUBLJANA
Slovenian businesses to benefit from energy aid scheme. Businesses will be eligible for aid to combat high energy prices under a €1.2 billion plan, which while adopted by the National Assembly Friday, some view as too little too late. Read more.
///
PRISTINA
Kosovo approves renewables-focused energy strategy. The government of Kosovo has approved the draft Energy Strategy 2022-2031 to enable the energy sector to serve as a tool for the country’s economic growth and increase opportunities for businesses and the employment of young people. Read more.
///
TIRANA
Albanian PM calls out criminal rhetoric used against Albanian diaspora. Prime Minister Edi Rama has spoken out about prejudice Albanians face and the stereotype that they are all criminals, following several months of negative rhetoric from the UK after numbers of those crossing the channel in boats to seek asylum surged. Read more.
AGENDA
- EU: Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council in its energy composition discusses methane emissions reduction, acceleration of the renewable energy deployment and more; The Czech Presidency presents a progress report on the gas package;
- Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis participates in the 2nd Trade Committee EU-Vietnam;
- Jobs and Social Rights Commissioner Nicolas Schmit and Home Affairs and Commissioner Ylva Johansson participate in a meeting of the European Partnership for Integration with the European Social and Economic Partners, on integrating migrants and refugees into labour market;
- Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski participates in meeting with the chairmen of the Visegrád Group agricultural committees;
- High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, on official visit in Jordan, participates in the Baghdad Conference and holds bilateral meetings in the margins;
- European Parliament President Roberta Metsola holds meetings with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, President of the Romanian Senate Alina Gorghiu, and President of the Chamber of Deputies of Romania Marcel Ciolacu; Addresses a joint session of the Romanian Parliament;
***
[Edited by Sarantis Michalopoulos, Vlad Makszimov, Daniel Eck, Zoran Radosavljevic, Alice Taylor, Sofia Stuart Leeson, Sofia Mandilara]
Scientists Create Crystals That Generate Electricity From Heat
Previous thermoelectric devices use expensive and toxic elements. Now scientists have created inexpensive crystals composed of copper, manganese, germanium, and sulfur that can efficiently convert heat to electricity.
A synthetic sulfide mineral with thermoelectric properties.
In the effort to efficiently convert heat into electricity, easily accessible materials from harmless raw materials open up new perspectives in the development of safe and inexpensive so-called thermoelectric materials. A synthetic copper mineral acquires a complex structure and microstructure through simple changes in its composition, thereby laying the foundation for the desired properties, according to a study published recently in the journal Angewandte Chemie.
The novel synthetic material is composed of copper, manganese, germanium, and sulfur, and it is produced in a rather simple process, explains materials scientist Emmanuel Guilmeau, CNRS researcher at CRISMAT laboratory, Caen, France, who is the corresponding author of the study. “The powders are simply mechanically alloyed by ball-milling to form a precrystallized phase, which is then densified by 600 degrees
Thermoelectric materials convert heat to electricity. This is especially useful in industrial processes where waste heat is reused as valuable electric power. The converse approach is the cooling of electronic parts, for example, in smartphones or cars. Materials used in these kinds of applications have to be not only efficient, but also inexpensive and, above all, safe for health.
However, thermoelectric devices used to date make use of expensive and toxic elements such as lead and tellurium, which offer the best conversion efficiency. To find safer alternatives, Emmanuel Guilmeau and his team have turned to derivatives of natural copper-based sulfide minerals. These mineral derivatives are mainly composed of nontoxic and abundant elements, and some of them have thermoelectric properties.
Now, the team has succeeded in producing a series of thermoelectric materials showing two crystal structures within the same material. “We were very surprised at the result. Usually, slightly changing the composition has little effect on the structure in this class of materials,” says Emmanuel Guilmeau describing their discovery.
The team found that replacing a small fraction of the manganese with copper produced complex microstructures with interconnected nanodomains, defects, and coherent interfaces, which affected the material’s transport properties for electrons and heat.
Emmanuel Guilmeau says that the novel material produced is stable up to 400 degrees Celsius (750 degrees
Team creates crystals that generate electricity from heat
To convert heat into electricity, easily accessible materials from harmless raw materials open up new perspectives in the development of safe and inexpensive so-called “thermoelectric materials.” A synthetic copper mineral acquires a complex structure and microstructure through simple changes in its composition, thereby laying the foundation for the desired properties, according to a study published in the journal Angewandte Chemie.
The novel synthetic material is composed of copper, manganese, germanium, and sulfur, and it is produced in a rather simple process, explains materials scientist Emmanuel Guilmeau, CNRS researcher at CRISMAT laboratory, Caen, France, who is the corresponding author of the study. “The powders are simply mechanically alloyed by ball-milling to form a precrystallized phase, which is then densified by 600 degrees Celsius. This process can be easily scaled up,” he says.
Thermoelectric materials convert heat to electricity. This is especially useful in industrial processes where waste heat is reused as valuable electric power. The converse approach is the cooling of electronic parts, for example, in smartphones or cars. Materials used in this kind of applications have to be not only efficient, but also inexpensive and, above all, safe for health.
However, thermoelectric devices used to date make use of expensive and toxic elements such as lead and tellurium, which offer the best conversion efficiency. To find safer alternatives, Emmanuel Guilmeau and his team have turned to derivatives of natural copper-based sulfide minerals. These mineral derivatives are mainly composed of nontoxic and abundant elements, and some of them have thermoelectric properties.
Now, the team has succeeded in producing a series of thermoelectric materials showing two crystal structures within the same material. “We were very surprised at the result. Usually, slightly changing the composition has little effect on the structure in this class of materials,” says Emmanuel Guilmeau, describing their discovery.
The team found that replacing a small fraction of the manganese with copper produced complex microstructures with interconnected nanodomains, defects, and coherent interfaces, which affected the material’s transport properties for electrons and heat.
Emmanuel Guilmeau says that the novel material produced is stable up to 400 degrees Celsius, a range well within the waste heat temperature range of most industries. He is convinced that, based on this discovery, cheaper novel and nontoxic thermoelectric materials could be designed to replace more problematic materials.
More information:
V. Pavan Kumar et al, Engineering Transport Properties in Interconnected Enargite‐Stannite Type Cu 2+ x Mn 1− x GeS 4 Nanocomposites, Angewandte Chemie International Edition (2022). DOI: 10.1002/anie.202210600
Citation:
Team creates crystals that generate electricity from heat (2022, November 8)
retrieved 9 November 2022
from https://phys.org/news/2022-11-team-crystals-electricity.html
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part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
Ukraine Races to Restore Electricity, Water Supplies After Russian Strikes
Utility crews across Ukraine were working to restore water and electricity supplies after a barrage of Russian missiles a day earlier knocked out service to hundreds of thousands of people, while Russian authorities expanded the movement of civilians out of the southern Kherson region.
Kyiv Mayor
Vitali Klitschko
said the water supply in the city was fully restored and the electricity system had been repaired, but added that rolling blackouts would continue Tuesday. Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s electricity-transmission-system operator, said the supply of electricity would be limited in seven regions, including Kyiv and the northeastern Kharkiv region.
The restrictions “are necessary to reduce the load on the networks” after the recent attacks, Ukrenergo wrote on Telegram. “This enables energy companies to restore damaged energy facilities as quickly as possible, balance the system and provide consumers with energy.”
The missile assault on Monday was the latest Russian attack on Ukraine’s energy system, which has become the Kremlin’s foremost target over the past several weeks. More than a third of Ukraine’s power-generation capacity had already been destroyed before Monday’s attack. Though Ukrainian officials said 45 of the 55 missiles Moscow launched were shot down, the country’s energy system has continued to sustain damage, raising the specter of a winter in which much of the country might not have power, heat or running water.
“Stabilizing blackouts continue in nine regions of Ukraine. Energy workers and local authorities are doing everything to reduce the time of blackouts,” Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelensky
said in his nightly address on Tuesday.
“We will do everything to give people electricity and heat this winter. But we must understand that Russia will do everything to destroy the normality of life,’’ he said.
On Monday, Mr. Zelensky said Russian forces had lost 72,000 troops in Ukraine since February. In September, Moscow said that 5,937 of its soldiers had been killed in Ukraine.
“Russian terrorists do not have such missiles that could hit the Ukrainian desire to live,” Mr. Zelensky said. “There will be a response on the battlefield.”
Mr. Zelensky, in a meeting Tuesday with European Commissioner for Energy
Kadri Simson
in Ukraine, called on the Commission to play a coordinating role in attracting the assistance from EU member states needed to restore Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Ms. Simson said on Twitter that Ukraine needs specific equipment and tools to repair the damage and that she assured Mr. Zelensky that “we are reaching out to partners to help with the dedicated support needed.”
Though attacks on Ukraine’s energy system have grown frequent in recent weeks, Russian President
Vladimir Putin
said that the assault on Monday was in response to a drone strike in Crimea on Saturday. Russia’s Defense Ministry has blamed that attack on Ukraine, with the help of the U.K. Russia has also suspended its participation in a United Nations-brokered deal to safely export grain from Ukraine in response.
Mr. Putin told Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
in a call Tuesday that for Russia to cooperate with the grain deal again, it would need an investigation into the attack and guarantees from Kyiv that the grain corridor wouldn’t be used for military purposes, according to the Kremlin.
The U.N. has said Russian accusations that Ukraine has used the grain corridor for armed attacks are false, since no military vessels are allowed to approach the shipping lane, which is monitored by the U.N. and Turkey.
Ukraine hasn’t claimed credit for the attack, and the U.K. has denied involvement. Still, strikes deep inside Russian-held territory have become more common. On Monday afternoon, Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency wrote on Twitter that two Ka-52 helicopters had been destroyed and two others damaged at an airfield in Russia’s Pskov region, which is hundreds of miles north of Ukraine near Russia’s border with Estonia.
A school hit by a Russian missile in Mykolaiv, Ukraine.
Photo:
Carl Court/Getty Images
Moscow hasn’t commented on the alleged Pskov attack.
Russian Defense Minister
Sergei Shoigu
said Tuesday that Russia had sent 87,000 newly mobilized men to fight in Ukraine, up from the 82,000 figure he reported on Friday. In total, Moscow says it has mobilized 300,000 men, some of whom are currently in training.
Ms. Shoigu said some 3,000 instructors with combat experience in Ukraine were involved in training those mobilized.
“We continue to effectively hit military infrastructure facilities with precision-guided strikes, as well as facilities that reduce Ukraine’s military potential,” Mr. Shoigu said.
Many of the mobilized soldiers have been deployed to the Kherson region, according to residents and military analysts. Ukrainian forces have been closing in on the city of Kherson, the only regional capital that Moscow has seized this year. Supply lines into the city, which sits on the West bank of the Dnipro River, have been largely cut, and two weeks ago Russian-installed authorities in the region began moving civilians east across the river into territory that Moscow more firmly controls.
On Monday night, the Russian-installed head of the Kherson region, Volodymyr Saldo, announced an expansion of the evacuation, saying civilians within 15 kilometers of the Dnipro River would be moved still farther into Russian-held territory.
The evacuation was necessary, he said, because of a threat that the Ukrainians could blow up the Kakhovka dam and flood the region. Mr. Saldo had previously warned of a threat to the dam, and then played down the possibility of major damage and the risk of severe flooding.
Residents collect food aid in Mykolaiv region, Ukraine.
Photo:
Carl Court/Getty Images
A damaged apartment in Mykolaiv, Ukraine.
Photo:
hannibal hanschke/Shutterstock
“This decision will make it possible to create a layered defense that will make it possible to repel an attack by Ukrainian armed forces and protect our civilians,” he said. Civilians relocated deeper into Russian-held territory would receive a one-time payment of 100,000 rubles, equivalent to about $1,600, as well as a housing stipend, he added.
Military analysts have said it is unlikely that Ukraine would attack the dam, a move that would make reclaiming territory in the region more difficult.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said Russian claims about the dam served several other purposes, including driving civilians away from territory that Ukraine might soon reclaim.
“[There] is no scenario in which it would be advantageous for Ukraine to blow the dam,” the institute wrote.
Darkened streets in Dnipro, Ukraine, during scheduled power outages.
Photo:
hannibal hanschke/Shutterstock
Write to Ian Lovett at ian.lovett@wsj.com and Georgi Kantchev at georgi.kantchev@wsj.com
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Ukrainians try to conserve electricity, endure water outages after Russian strikes
KYIV, Oct 20 (Reuters) – Ukrainians conserved electricity and some went without running water to try to ease pressure on the grid and give engineers a chance to rebuild infrastructure destroyed by Russian strikes as Kyiv’s forces advanced towards the city of Kherson.
Although Ukraine is successfully prosecuting counter-offensives against Russian forces in the east and the south, it is struggling to protect power generating facilities and other utilities from Russian air and drone strikes designed to disrupt lives and demoralise people as winter approaches.
The Ukrainian government on Thursday placed restrictions on electricity usage nationwide for the first time since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion following a barrage of attacks which President Volodymr Zelenskiy said had struck a third of all power plants.
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Under the new energy-saving regime, power supply across Ukraine was on Thursday restricted between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m.
Ukraine’s energy minister said the government was seeking a 20% reduction in energy use and that Ukrainians were responding to the appeal to limit usage.
“We see a drop in consumption,” he said. “We see a voluntary decrease. But when it is not enough, we are forced to bring in forced shutdowns,” Minister Herman Halushchenko told Ukrainian TV.
Russia had carried out more than 300 air strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities since Oct. 10, he added.
Zelenskiy told the nation in a Wednesday night video address: “There is new damage to critical infrastructure. Three energy facilities were destroyed by the enemy today.
“We assume that Russian terror will be directed at energy facilities until, with the help of partners, we are able to shoot down 100% of enemy missiles and drones.”
One of the facilities hit on Wednesday was a coal-fired thermal power station in the city of Burshtyn in western Ukraine.
“Unfortunately there is destruction, and it is quite serious,” Svitlana Onyshchuk, Ivano-Frankivsk’s governor, said on Ukrainian television.
“Please limit your electricity consumption,” Zelenskiy told Ukrainians in the same address to the nation.
The Ukrainian leader was due to address an EU summit later on Thursday. Leaders of the 27 member states will discuss options for more support to Ukraine, including energy equipment, helping restore power supply and long-term financing to rebuild.
BATTLE FOR KHERSON
Cities such as the capital Kyiv and Kharkiv in the northeast announced curbs on the use of electric-powered public transport such as trolleybuses and reduced the frequency of trains on the metro.
DTEK, a major electricity supplier in Kyiv, told consumers it would do its best to make sure outages did not last longer than four hours.
The whole northeast region of Sumy, which borders Russia, said it would go the entire day – from 0700 to 2300 local time – without water, electric transport or street lighting.
“We need time to restore power plants, we need respite from our consumers,” Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, head of grid operator Ukrenergo, told Ukrainian TV.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Thursday it was continuing to target Ukrainian energy infrastructure, a strategy it has stepped up since the appointment earlier this month of Sergei Surovikin – nicknamed “General Armageddon” by the Russian media because of his alleged toughness – as overall commander of what Moscow called its “special military operation”.
Reuters witnesses said five drones hit the southern port city of Mykolaiv on Thursday, but it was unclear where they had exploded.
The Ukrainian military continued to try to press its advance towards the southern city of Kherson, the only regional capital Russian forces have captured since their invasion eight months ago.
The Russian-appointed administration on Wednesday told civilians to leave the city – control of which allows Russia to control the only land route to the Crimea peninsula, seized by Russia in 2014, and the mouth of the Dnipro river.
On Wednesday, Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Russia-backed administration in Kherson, wrote on Telegram that Ukraine had launched an offensive towards Novaya Kamianka and Berislav in the Kherson region.
While Ukraine remained tight-lipped about its operations, its military said in an early Thursday update on the Kherson region said 43 Russian servicemen had been killed and six tanks and other equipment destroyed.
The Russian defence ministry on Thursday described a battle in the area which it said its forces had won in the end.
“In the area of the settlement of Sukhanovo, Kherson region, the enemy managed to drive a wedge into Russian units’ defensive lines,” the ministry said.
“Due to the introduction of a tank reserve by the Russian command into battle, as well as ambush actions, the enemy was significantly defeated, and Ukrainian units fled. The position on the front edge of the defensive line has been completely restored.”
Reuters was not able to verify battlefield reports.
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Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Angus MacSwan
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