OREANDA-NEWS. May 17, 2010. It is argued that Ukrainian electricity exports may not be recovered by 1 June as planned earlier. The statement was made by Vasyl Danyliv, the chairman of the board of directors of Swiss Korlea Invest Holding. According to the official data released by the Ministry of Fuel and Energy, electricity exports from “Burshtyn island” (Ivano-Frankivsk region) was suspended in March 2010 due to lack of coal in the station’s storage. However, exports can not be restored due to the high cost of the Ukrainian electricity (about 43-45 Euro / MW-hr without a fee for access to the interstate transmission lines (about 3 euro / MW-hr). According to Mr. Danyliv, the power base access can now be bought cheaper than 40 MW-hr in Europe. Also, Mr. Danyliv believes Belarus to be most promising avenue for the exports of electricity now.

Millennium Capital believes, however, that electricity exports may still be resumed. This is a strong possibility, if one takes account of the Power consumption increase and the industrial production growth trends, which may cause foreign companies to purchase Ukrainian electricity.