(Riga) Ukraine is interested in electrical equipment from a Canadian company.
The infrastructure of the Ukrainian energy giant DTEK is almost daily attacked and damaged by the Russian army.
The two Tower Solutions factories, in Granby, Quebec, and Whitby, Ontario, could thus produce pylons that would be exported to Ukraine and assembled on site, to quickly restore power.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky recently claimed that Russia had damaged no less than 40% of his country’s energy infrastructure.
A spokesperson for Tower Solutions was able to speak recently to DTEK President Maxim Timchenko to talk about his emergency pylons that can be erected quickly: it goes from 90 minutes to just a few minutes.
“That’s definitely what we need right now,” replied the CEO during a briefing held last month.
The DTEK manager expressed openness to the emergency solution offered by Tower Solutions and offered his representative to get in touch with his equipment managers.
The Canadian company representative also offered other pieces of power grid equipment that DTEK might need.
A senior Tower Solutions executive, Ciro Pasini, did not deny the information and offered to The Canadian Press to speak with the representative who forged ties with DTEK.
The representative in question, based in Montreal, did not respond to repeated interview requests from The Canadian Press.
Mr. Pasini, however, hinted that the issue was delicate and that it even involved government authorities. He expressed reluctance to publicly discuss his company’s offer to the Ukrainian electricity supplier.
In Granby, Tower Solutions has an 80,000 square foot robotic factory where aluminum and steel parts are assembled.
The G7 recently announced that it would set up a “coordination mechanism” to help Ukraine repair, restore and defend its energy and water infrastructure”.
The Ukrainian network was designed according to a certain model from the time of the Soviet Union, so the Russians are familiar with this model and hit “nodes” in the network, which paralyzes large parts of the territory.
Even if his company is constantly the target of the Russians, Mr. Timchenko tried to be reassuring on his capacities of resistance and repair.
Both pylons and transformer and distribution substations are targeted.
In addition, DTEK has lost its nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, in Zaporizhia, which is in the hands of the Russians: its total capacity of 6000 megawatts is therefore diverted and no longer supplies Ukrainian territory, for a country which consumes 52,000 megawatts.
“This is the most difficult situation,” admitted Mr. Timchenko, who concludes that the Russian army systematically targets the electricity network to affect the morale of the Ukrainian population and disrupt economic activity, for example by interrupting production coal mining, essential for power plants.
Nevertheless, the big boss of DTEK assures that he will be able to supply Ukrainian consumers to face the country’s harsh winter.
There’s enough gas to get through the winter, he hinted.
The gas stock in October was 14.6 billion cubic meters. However, the average winter consumption in Ukraine amounts to 8.2 billion cubic meters, while an additional 2 billion cubic meters will be needed to replace the loss in Zaporizhia.
In addition, DTEK can also count on a hydroelectric power station.
However, as its president pointed out, the challenge remains the same: the production units are mainly in the west of the country, so how to supply the other regions further east if the transport infrastructure is attacked? ?
The company has also built wind farms, but they are currently in Russian-occupied territory.
DTEK ensures that it nevertheless maintains its 2030 strategic plan to become a company that will supply green energy to Europe.
DTEK says it employs 70,000 people in Ukraine. Since its founding, the company claims to have invested nearly US$12 billion in energy and sustainable development projects.