Why Ukraine cannot replace Russian gas for the EU with its electricity

Aleksey Belogoryev, Deputy Principal Director on Energy Studies of the Institute for Energy and Finance, commented to the Svobodnaya Pressa internet portal, why Ukraine cannot replace Russian gas for the EU with its electricity.

Earlier, Volodymyr Zelensky, in a telegram channel, announced about a "significant step towards rapprochement with the European Union" - the beginning of electricity supplies to the EU countries. “Due to Ukrainian electricity, a significant part of the Russian gas consumed by Europeans can be replaced. So this is not only a matter of export earnings for us, it is a matter of security for Europe,” he said.

As Alexey Belogoryev points out, if the situation with electricity generation in Ukraine has not changed much, then energy consumption has fallen due to economic and military problems by 40-45% compared to the last year: “Therefore, there are free capacities. Moreover, it was in summer that the energy system of Ukraine was always redundant due to the operation of nuclear power plants. In winter, the situation is worse - in the cold season, Ukraine itself traditionally imports electricity from Russia, Belarus, as well as from EU countries - from Poland and Hungary."

Thus, as the Svobodnaya Pressa interlocutor notes, the decision to supply electricity to the EU is more politicized than practical: “The amount of electricity that Ukraine can offer the West is very small. Perhaps by a couple of billion cubic meters, it may reduce the need for Russian gas, but it will definitely not save Europe.”