The Ukrainian energy sector is making intensive preparations for another winter of war, according to major private electricity supplier DTEK.
"We learnt our lesson last winter - the energy companies, the government, everyone involved," said DTEK chief executive Maksym Timtschenko at the Ukraine Reconstruction Conference in the Polish city of Gdańsk on Friday.
Russian airstrikes severely damaged Ukraine's energy grid during the exceptionally cold winter months at the start of this year.
In Kiev, hundreds of thousands of people were left without heating and barely any electricity for weeks on end. DTEK lost up to 80% of its electricity generation capacity on three occasions during the war and has repeatedly had to restore it, said Timtschenko.
Last winter was the harshest yet because some of the damaged facilities had frozen over, he said. "We have now begun the repair work and we aim to have sufficient capacity in place before winter sets in," said the chief executive.
However, this was conditional on the facilities not being damaged by airstrikes again, he said, adding that they are now better protected.
In Gdańsk, DTEK signed a memorandum of understanding with the US company GE Vernova on the construction of a modern gas turbine power station with a capacity of 650 megawatts at the Burshtyn site in western Ukraine. Timtschenko said the deal was part of a strategy to replace coal as Ukraine's main energy source.
DTEK has already invested in wind and solar energy as well as battery capacity, and is planning the largest onshore wind farm in Eastern Europe in the Poltava region of central Ukraine.
Looking ahead, the company also intends to enter the mini-nuclear reactor sector.
