Repair, connect and stabilise: von der Leyen announces new energy support for Ukraine ahead of winter
The European Union will make an additional amount of close to €160 million available to “repair, connect, and stabilise” Ukraine this winter, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen announced at a press conference with Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency.
This extra funding includes €60 million in humanitarian aid for shelters and heaters and around €100 million for repair works and renewables.
According to von der Leyen, these €100 million come from the proceeds of the mobilised Russian assets in the European Union. “Because it is only right that Russia pays for the destruction it cost,” the President said. Overall support to Ukraine’s energy sector since February 2022 amounts to at least €2 billion, not taking into account all in-kind donations.
“Eighty per cent of Ukraine’s thermal plants have been destroyed and a third of the hydropower capacity. We aim to restore 2.5 gw of capacity, which is 15% of Ukraine’s needs,” von der Leyen said.
She reminded that thanks to Ukraine’s connection to the European grid, the EU can export 2 GW of electricity to Ukraine, which also covers roughly 12% of the country’s need for the winter. It compensates, for example, the equivalent of the loss of power generated by the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which is now under illegal Russian control.
She also said the EU would continue coordinating all possible support from its Member States through the Civil Protection Mechanism: “So far we have managed to send more than 10,000 power generators and transformers and more help is coming.” She added Lithuania had dismantled a full thermal power plant and was now shipping it piece by piece to Ukraine.
Von der Leyen also said the EU was boosting decentralised production of energy to stabilise the flow of energy in the country. “This includes rolling out more renewables in the country. As you know, solar plants on rooftops are harder to hit and easier to repair than large central infrastructure. And while it helps secure a steady flow of energy in the country, it also pushes forward Ukraine’s energy independence and the clean transition,” she said, adding the EU was dispatching solar panels to 21 hospitals in the country to ensure continued energy supply. Eight of them should be fully equipped by this winter.
She also said she would be travelling to Kyiv tomorrow to discuss the EU’s energy support to Ukraine ahead of the heating season in person with President Zelensky.
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