(ANSA-AFP) - PARIS, SEP 19 - The coming winter will prove the
"sternest test yet" for Ukraine's energy grid since Russia's
invasion, with numerous power plants destroyed or damaged, the
International Energy Agency said on Thursday. Putting forward a
10-point plan for Ukraine to safeguard its war-battered energy
security, the IEA also warned of problems for neighbouring
Moldova's electricity supply after Ukraine stops allowing the
transit of Russian gas at the end of 2024. "Ukraine's energy
system has made it through the past two winters... But this
winter will be, by far, its sternest test yet," IEA Executive
Director Fatih Birol said in a news release accompanying the
report. The report said that in 2022 and 2023 "about half of
Ukraine's power generation capacity was either occupied by
Russian forces, destroyed or damaged, and approximately half of
the large network substations were damaged by missiles and
drones." With Ukraine having lost more than two-thirds of its
electricity production capacity since the Russian invasion, the
report warned of a "yawning gap between available electricity
supply and peak demand". It urged European countries to expedite
deliveries of equipment and parts to rebuild the damaged
facilities and called for measures to protect them from drones.
(ANSA-AFP).
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