Urgency of energy security, Ukrainian lesson≈

Abstract

Abstract Reducing the EU’s dependence on imported Russian gas has become the main focus of EU policy after the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. The Russian war in Ukraine has revealed bottlenecks in EU energy policy fully demonstrating the lack of reliability of Russian energy supplies. Ukraine has demonstrated its remarkable strategy of cutting dependence on Russian energy sources, including during the war. Ukraine’s energy infrastructure continues to suffer devastating damage and the country faces unbelievable challenges on its way to rebuilding the energy sector. Thus, according to estimates from the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine, energy sector losses as of the end of March 2022 comprised approximately USD 2 billion and about USD 1 billion for the renewable sector. At the same time Ukraine is already thinking of its future energy sector and has recently presented the national programme ‘Energy independence and the green course’ which includes, among other things, construction of 1.5-2 GW of peak power and around 700 MW of energy storages, 10 GW of hydrogen export from Ukraine to the EU, and the production and supply of biomethane. In addition, in order to contribute to the EU reducing its dependence on Russian energy, Ukraine is proposing to utilize its energy infrastructure, including gas transportation systema and gas storages, stating that the existing Ukrainian capacities for gas transit (with a significant part of them already booked but not used) are more than sufficient to compensate for the reduction in transmission via Nord Stream-1. Last, but not least, Ukraine has already started electricity export to the EU, proposing competitive pricing and, thereby, helping the EU to reduce the usage of natural gas for electricity production.