Poland and Ukraine will soon be able to transfer electricity between their networks through an interconnection – plans for which were launched after Russia’s invasion last year – set to open in the first quarter of 2023.
The 400 kilovolt (kV) link, described in Polish media as an “energy bridge”, will connect Khmelnytskyi in western Ukraine – home to a large nuclear power plant – to Rzeszów in southeast Poland.
“Voltage tests of our infrastructure are currently underway so that we will be ready,” said Włodzimierz Mucha, vice president of Polish grid operator PSE, quoted by ISB News.
“Our colleagues from Ukrenergo [Ukraine’s operator] have more challenges,” he added. “We have to wait for them. [But] it seems that in the first quarter of this year they should also be ready and we will be able to connect this line and enable the exchange of electricity between the systems.”
Już niedługo Polska uzyska połączenie z ukraińską elektrownią jądrową. Połączenie Rzeszów-Chmielnicki na poziomie napięcia 400 kV zostanie uruchomione w I kw. 2023r., . Obecnie trwają "próby napięciowe" infrastruktury po stronie polskiej. https://t.co/M9SobBRYSX
— Business Insider Polska 🇵🇱 (@BIPolska) January 10, 2023
Plans to create the connection were agreed between the Polish and Ukrainian governments in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The line will make it “possible to export energy from Ukraine to Poland” but also “to import energy from Poland in the future in case of problems in Ukraine”, said Oleksandr Motsyk, an advisor to Ukraine’s energy minister, at the time.
Previously, a 750 kV line had run between Khmelnytskyi and Rzeszów. But that closed in the mid-1990s and could not be restored at the same voltage given current environmental and technical standards, reports Polskie Radio.
It was initially hoped that converting the link to 400 kV – using the same power lines as before but with upgraded substations – could be completed by the end of 2022.
However, PSE announced last month that it was “difficult to give an exact date for completing the works carried out on the Ukrainian side in wartime conditions, under constant rocket fire and with electricity supply interruptions”.
Mucha noted at the time that Poland had been “providing financial support” to Ukrenergo to help complete work on its side. PSE has also donated equipment. Total costs for work on the Polish side have amounted to around 30 million zloty (€6.4 million).
Main image credit: Sigmund /Unsplash
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
