In December 2019, the average power surplus doubled in off-peak hours in the IPS of Ukraine: from 1.5 thousand MW to 3 thousand MW. On January 1-2, 2020, in certain hours it amounted to more than 3 thousand MW at an average daily air temperature of +1.3°С.
The main reasons are the overall decrease in consumption due to the unusually high average air temperature for this time of the year, as well as the fact that market participants purchase volumes of electricity that significantly exceed the level of their actual consumption.
In particular, on January 1, 2020, during off-peak hours, for the power system balancing and ensuring its operational safety, the dispatchers of NPC Ukrenergo used all the propositions of the generating companies in the balancing market. The imports to the IPS of Ukraine from Russia and Belarus were limited to zero from January 1 to January 7 including.
Dispatch commands were issued for the turn to reserve (or delay of scheduled launches) of generating equipment of TPPs with total capacity of 970MW. Thus, six generating units (power units) of the TPPs were suspended. Hydro generators of Dnistrovska PSPP and Kyivska PSPP were turned to the pump mode.
In the morning of January 1, four power units of Rivne NPP, Zaporizhzhia NPP, and Yuzhnoukrainska NPP were unloaded for the total capacity of 760MW. The total NPP loading for the beginning of January 1 was 10.04 thousand MW. In the daytime on January 1, and in the morning of January 2, three power units of Zaporizhzhia NPP and Yuzhnoukrainska NPP were uploaded for the total capacity of 650MW. At 8 pm on January 2, NPP total capacity amounted to 10.6 thousand MW.
WPP generation was not limited on January 1-2.
Balancing limitations in the IPS of Ukraine on January 1, 2020
| Imports | Limited to zero |
| TPP | Limited to 970MW |
| PSPP | Hydro generators of Dnistrovska PSPP and Kyivska PSPP were turned to the pump mode with capacity of 935MW |
| NPP | Limited to 760MW |
| WPP | No limitations |
Please note that in the previous years, on January 1, during the morning off-peak hours at the higher than current power consumption and the air temperature below 0°С, the NPP loading amounted to about 10 thousand MW as on January 1, 2020.
Air temperature, power consumption and capacity of NPPs on January 1, 2017-2020 during off-peak hours in the IPS of Ukraine (8:00 am)
| Year | Average daily air temperature | Consumption | NPP loading |
| 2017 | -2.7°С | 15.5 thousand MW | 10.7 thousand MW |
| 2018 | +2.4°С | 13.8 thousand MW | 9.6 thousand MW |
| 2019 | -3.3°С | 15.5 thousand MW | 10.5 thousand MW |
| 2020 | +1.3°С | 14.2 thousand MW | 10.04 thousand MW |
It is worth noting that on January 1, 2020, power system balancing in off-peak hours was more difficult due to increase in WPP capacity. In the previous three years (2017-2019) during off-peak hours, total WPP capacity did not exceed 40MW while on January 1, 2020, it increased to almost 700MW.
