ENERGO: Ukraine plans new $1bn hydroelectric plant to replace destroyed Kakhovka HPP

The construction of a new hydroelectric plant to replace the destroyed Kakhovka HPP will cost $1bn according to Ukraine’s Ministry of Economy, Ukrainian Pravda reported on June 7.

Ukraine's state-owned energy company Ukrhydroenergo announced plans on the evening of the catastrophe to build a new power plant on the same site once the region is de-occupied. But the costly development of the massive dam and new hydro units will take at least five years.

The consequences have already been immense and only continue to grow. Currently, damage to water resources is estimated to be UAH2bn ($54mn), according to the Ministry of Environment and the State Environmental Inspectorate of Ukraine. At the same time, agricultural lands in the regions are under threat as flooding impacts 31 field irrigation systems.

Nearly 20,000 residents of the Kherson region have no access to electricity because flooding damaged the Kherson thermal power plant (TPP), 129 transformer substations and two solar farms in the neighbouring Mykolaiv region. Ukrenergo and Ukrhydroenergo are working on balancing the energy system.