DTEK to spend $355 million restoring 4GW of power generation destroyed by Russia before next winter
Ukraine’s largest private energy firm, DTEK, will spend 300 million euros ($355 million) to repair four gigawatts of energy generation capacity destroyed by Russian attacks, CEO Maksym Timchenko said at the Munich Security Conference, Interfax Ukraine reported on Feb. 17.
DTEK has set aside 150 million euros from its own pockets, but needs help from partners to close the rest by the end of the year. Restoring 4 GW at DTEK’s power plants will be enough to cover Ukraine’s heating season in 2026-2027, Timchenko added.
"We know how to do it. But orders for equipment need to be placed now," he said during the round table, "Energy War: How to Turn Off Tyranny."
As Russia continues to hammer Ukraine’s power plants and substations, energy workers are stuck in a vicious cycle of repairs and destruction. Equipment is urgently needed but Ukraine requires Soviet-era specs that are increasingly hard to find in Europe.
The government must have a full list of critical equipment and clear sources of funding by May in order to have enough time to prepare for winter, Timchenko said.
Producing certain equipment can take as long as a year, while Ukraine’s domestic energy equipment production is hindered by a depleted workforce.
This winter has proven to be the hardest of the full-scale invasion for Ukrainians, with Russia ramping up its drone and missile attacks on power plants and substations. Timchenko has frequently called for more air defense equipment to protect sites from incoming attacks.
Brutal Russian strikes have plunged large parts of the country into lengthy blackouts, often without working heating in -20C weather, raising concerns about how well prepared the country is for another winter on the same scale.
