The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has approved Denys Shmyhal, former head of the Ministry of Defense, as the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy. Following his appointment, Shmyhal outlined three main areas of his work: recovery, resilience enhancement, and modernization of the energy sector.
This is reported by Finway
Restoration of Energy Infrastructure After Attacks
The Minister emphasized that since the beginning of the full-scale war, almost all energy facilities in the country have been attacked by the Russian Federation. As a result, he stated, 10 GW of capacity has been lost or damaged. Shmyhal paid special attention to the urgent need to overcome the acute phase of the energy crisis caused by the destruction.
“Resilience also involves building decentralized generation; we are focusing on this as well. Last year, 762 MW of new gas generation was put into operation. The dynamics are positive, but the pace needs to be sharply increased through deregulation, simplifying connection mechanisms to the grid, and attracting investments,” Shmyhal noted.
Modernization and Decentralization of the Energy Sector
Shmyhal emphasized that the government, together with the Ministry of Energy, plans to implement a model in which distributed generation will meet local energy needs and create reserves for emergencies. He stressed that Russia will likely continue its attacks on energy facilities, making the strengthening of their protection one of the key tasks.
Additionally, the Minister highlighted the need for accelerated construction of new nuclear power units, noting that the Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant is currently the closest to realizing this task.