Electricity production by thermal power plants (TPPs) and combined heat and power plants (CHPPs) in Ukraine in December was almost equal to the production of electricity by nuclear power plants (NPPs), according to data from the Ministry of Energy.

According to the calculations of Interfax-Ukraine, TPPs and CHPPs in December 2020 increased their generation by 47.4% compared to December 2019, to 6.897 billion kWh, while nuclear power plants reduced production by 16.4%, to 6.954 billion kWh.

The share of nuclear power plants of the total structure of electricity production last month amounted to 45.63%, TPPs and CHPPs – 45.25%, HPPs and pumped storage power plants – 4.16%, renewable sources (wind farms, solar power plants, biomass) – 4.07%, and block stations – 0.89%.

In general, in December 2020, electricity production in the Integrated Power System (IPS) of Ukraine grew by 7.2% (by 1.021 billion kWh) compared to December 2019, to 15.241 billion kWh.

A similar situation was in November, when the output of TPPs and CHPPs to 6.116 billion kWh, which almost equals to the generation of nuclear power plants of 6.22 billion kWh.

Such a significant load on TPPs in November-December led to a significant depletion of coal reserves in the plants' warehouses. So, if on October 30 coal reserves in the warehouses of the TPPs were 2.521 million tonnes, then on November 30 they fell to 1.699 million tonnes, and by December 31 – 789,600 tonnes. As of January 15, 2021, stocks in warehouses dropped to 548,500 tonnes.

Former Minister of Energy Olha Buslavets has repeatedly accused the leadership of Energoatom of shifting the timing of the NPP repair campaign, while Energoatom explained the current situation with artificial restrictions on the production of electricity at NPPs in April-August by the Ministry of Energy, which revised the forecast balance of electricity for 2020 and reduced the volumes of electricity transmission by Energoatom.