President
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the Laws:
– “On Amending the Law of Ukraine” On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2020 “No. 553-IX, which the Verkhovna Rada supported at an extraordinary plenary meeting on April 13, 2020.
Changes to the state budget for the current year have been made in order to optimize costs in accordance with external and internal challenges associated with the coronavirus epidemic and the global economic crisis.
According to the law, the Coronavirus Foundation in the amount of 64.7 billion UAH is being formed as part of the state budget. These funds will be directed to the top-priority areas of counteraction to the spread of COVID-19.
Read more: https://bit.ly/3cyB8Jp
– “On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine with the Purpose of Preserving the Environment (Concerning Strengthening Responsibility for Actions aimed at Air Pollution and Destruction or Damage to Plant World Objects)” No. 556-IX, which the Verkhovna Rada adopted at an extraordinary plenary meeting on April 13, 2020.
In particular, the fine for air pollution increases from 1700-3400 UAH to 30 600 thousand – 51 000 UAH.
Read more: https://bit.ly/2x05mWG
Government
The New Head of the Minecoenergo has been appointed:
At the Government meeting on 16 of April 2020, Olga Buslavets was appointed First Deputy Minister (order of the CMU of April 16, 2020, No. 429-r). and the execution of the duties of the Minister of Energy and Environmental Protection of Ukraine was temporarily entrusted to the First Deputy Minister (order of the CMU of April 16, 2020, No. 430-r).
Olga Buslavets on April 17, 2020, held the first conference call and announced that a list of measures aimed at technical, fuel and economic balancing of the energy sector will be formed within a week.
Read more: https://bit.ly/2VmzDZ4
Ministry of Economy
Together with the UNICEF Office in Ukraine prepared the thematic issue of the Consensus forecast “Ukraine in 2020-2021: the consequences of the pandemic”:
The consensus forecast “Ukraine in 2020-2021: the consequences of the pandemic” was developed to highlight a consensus vision of future trends and to objectively assess the challenges facing both the global economy and the Ukrainian economy as a result of the global recession and the introduction of restrictive measures in Ukraine during the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to experts, Ukraine will show a deeper decline than the global economy, in 2020 – by 4.2%. In 2020, inflationary processes will accelerate to 7% against 4.1% (calculated from December to December of the previous year) in 2019. All elements of demand will be negative dynamics, but most will be a drop in investment, which will amount to 14.8%. In order to maintain the demand of the population and mitigate the negative consequences of the quarantine measures introduced, budget support will increase; in the context of reduced incomes, the budget deficit will increase significantly to 5.6% of GDP.
However, already in 2021, economic growth of 2.4% takes place, does not compensate for the fall in 2020. Inflation will slow down to 5.9% (calculated from December to December of the previous year). All elements of demand will be positive. The greatest growth will be observed again in investments – as the effect of a low base – 6.9%.
The greatest threat to the economic recovery in Ukraine, according to experts, is the prolonged continuation and strengthening of internal quarantine measures. Two factors shared the second place: (1) the lack of a clear anti-crisis plan of measures to support the economy and citizens during the pandemic and (2) the deep decline in economic activity in the countries – the main trading partners of Ukraine, in accordance with a significant deterioration in the situation on world commodity markets.
The full version of the additional thematic issue is here: Consensus forecast “Ukraine in 2020-2021: the consequences of the pandemic”.
Ukrenergo
NPC “Ukrenergo” forwarded to NEURC proposals for amendments to a number of regulatory documents on balancing renewable energy in the energy system, which was developed jointly with market participants and industry associations, including EUEA:
Proposals sent to the Regulator regarding changes to the Transmission Network Code (TNC), the Commercial Code (CC) and the Market Rules, which, in particular, provide for:
clarification of the list of corrective actions and measures that can be used by dispatchers to balance the power system by a dispatching team with operational safety, in particular, used to limit the generation of renewable energy sources;
the establishment in the TNC of the procedure for dispatching electric power facilities using alternative energy sources and clarifying the rules for their limitation in the face of a threat to the operational safety of the PS of Ukraine;
consolidation in the TNC of a norm on the priority of generation from renewable energy sources, provided that there is no threat to the operational safety of the energy system;
CC proposed a methodology for calculating the amount of electricity, and not released by renewable energy producers as a result of a supervisory limitation.
Read more: https://bit.ly/2XSoj8M
NPC Ukrenergo has developed and introduced the Glossary of terms in use in the power industry legislation of Ukraine and Europe:
The Glossary will help all market participants and other interested parties quickly and easily find the definition of the term used in Ukrainian energy industry laws together with the corresponding definition from the ENTSO-E legal framework. The term search can be in Ukrainian or English.
Read more: https://bit.ly/34YURiP
NPC “Ukrenergo” notes a violation by some electricity producers from renewable energy sources of their obligations to fulfill dispatch teams aimed at ensuring operational security of the country’s power system:
According to the statement on the TSO’s site, the corresponding cases of non-compliance by renewable facilities with Ukrenergo teams with regard to the decrease in production volumes were recorded on April 5, 9, 11 and 12 in the South, South-West, West and Central regions.
The list of objects that allowed the failure of dispatch teams was published on the website of Ukrenergo.
The operator notes that at present, due to a decrease in electricity consumption against the background of quarantine measures, and due to the growth of volumes of poorly predicted alternative generation in the energy system, a surplus of electricity is observed.
Read more: https://bit.ly/2XPlSDX
Ukrenergo’s tariff allows one to offset one-third of the refund to Guaranteed Buyer. Ukrenergo comments on the debt situation:
Funds in Ukrenergo’s 2020 electricity tariff intended for payment of the feed-in tariff allow offsetting only about 30% of the monthly needs of Guaranteed Buyer for fulfilling special obligations to RES producers: the transmission tariff provides for monthly expenditures for this purpose in the amount of UAH 700-800 million, while the invoices issued by Guaranteed Buyer to Ukrenergo amount to UAH 2-2.5 billion.
The situation is complicated by the low level of settlements of market participants for electricity transmission services under quarantine conditions: in January-March 2020, the level of payments by market participants for electricity transmission services of Ukrenergo amounted to 76%, and in March – it did not exceed 60%. As of today, the total debt of market participants for the transmission tariff amounts to UAH 2.4 billion (VAT included), including UAH 644.5 million – debt for the ІІ half of 2019.
Read more: https://bit.ly/3brWic6
Guaranteed Buyer
Made payment to RES producers:
April 15, 2020, partially paid off electricity producers from renewable sources (RES) for the first ten days of April. The payment was made using funds received from the sale of organized energy from renewable energy sources on organized markets. The total transfer amount amounted to 100 million UAH.
Read more: https://bit.ly/2Vpfod5
Recall that the Regulator provided the “Guaranteed Buyer” opportunity in its application on the Day-ahead market (DAM) to indicate a price no higher than the average weighted actual price for electric energy produced at nuclear power plants in April-May 2019, that is, the maximum the value for applications of the GB is the price at which the Energoatom sells the electricity to the Guaranteed Buyer to fulfill its obligations to ensure the availability of electric energy for the population – 566.7 UAH / MWh.
USAID Energy Security Project
Published it Report on Risks in the Electricity Market
USAID Energy Security Project published a Report on Risks in the Electricity Market, Emerging from the Implementation of Measures to Combat COVID-19, identified and prioritized a list of measures aimed at mitigating the negative impacts of recent events, as well as addressing some of the structural problematic issues that existed in the wake of the pandemic.
Among such measures are reducing costs (slowing down or freezing investment programs of licensees), streamlining regulatory rules (payment algorithms), supporting the Guaranteed Buyer and making changes to the PSO.
Read more: https://bit.ly/34TOhKi
