The issue of fair electricity distribution is one of the most common amid large-scale attacks that leave people without power. Many mistakenly believe that electricity can be evenly directed to any region of the country — but this is not the case.
As a result of targeted strikes and extensive damage to generation facilities in the east of the country, as well as damage to transmission system facilities at key Ukrenergo substations, the available transmission capacity of the power grid is insufficient to transfer significant amounts of electricity from relatively “surplus” to “deficit” regions.
Therefore, while restoration of generation facilities and the transmission system continues, Ukrenergo is forced to apply different queues of hourly outage schedules. This is necessary to prevent a systemic blackout.
The key challenge is electricity transmission. Regions are interconnected by high-voltage “bridges” — power transmission lines and autotransformers. The enemy deliberately strikes these transmission nodes. Therefore, even when electricity is being generated, damaged networks often make it physically impossible to deliver it to consumers.
In the west, nuclear power plants may generate sufficient capacity. But the main transmission corridor capable of delivering electricity, for example to Kyiv, is damaged. As a result, it is physically impossible to transport it to the eastern regions — it remains “locked” in the region where it is generated (which is why there is more electricity there).
Similarly, just as all NPPs are located on the right bank of the Dnipro River, the main electricity import capacities are also concentrated on the western border. And the bottlenecks in the transmission system caused by enemy attacks also prevent the transport of imported electricity.
Damage occurs every day. It is not always a massive missile strike — it can also be local damage due to shelling in frontline areas or emergency situations, as the power system operates at the limits of its capabilities.
Thus, the difference in outage schedules is the result of multiple overlapping factors: from the ability to generate electricity to the ability to transmit it. It is important to understand that energy workers are operating at the edge of their capabilities, maintaining the balance of a system functioning under unprecedented destruction.
