Op-ed Euractiv: Integrating Ukraine's electricity grid into the Europan grid infrastructure
The online news portal “Euractiv” has published an op-ed by Georg Zachmann (Bruegel) and Lukas Feldhaus (BE) on the integration of the Ukrainian electricity grid into the European grid infrastructure. In the piece the authors shed light on the project’s opportunities and problems that still need to be solved.
In Particular, Ukraine would benefit from grid integration. Supply and demand of grid electricity could be better matched if Ukraine was able to easily export its own surplus electricity to European grids as well as cover increased demand through European imports. This could also accelerate the decarbonisation of Ukrainian power generation, as renewable forms of energy production(e.g. wind and solar) would better distribute their fluctuating yields in an integrated European grid and would thus no longer need to be taken off the grid to prevent grid overload. Moreover, integration would enable Ukraine to reduce its energy dependence on Russia – a development that would also be politically in the EU’s interest.
However, in order to enable Ukraine’s integration into the European grid, the country would have to modernise its own grid and power generation infrastructure. The European Union should support Ukraine in this. A close energy partnership is in the best interest of the European Union.