In 2021, DTEK Donetsk Grids restored service to residents of 17 front-line settlements

Thermal power generation23 December 2021

DTEK Donetsk Grid returned power to residents living in 17 front-line settlements in 2021. Because of military actions, they are constantly at risk of blackouts. Some of them, such as Taramchuk, Berezove, Nevelsky, lost power two or three times during this time.

In 2021, DTEK Donetsk Grids restored service to residents of 17 front-line settlements

DTEK Donetsk Grids serves the Ukraine’s interests, shares the values of the community, and recognizes that permanent and uninterrupted power supply is crucial for people in the region.

"Power supply is a vital service, especially for residents of front-line settlements. We do our best to make sure that all our customers have lights on. In 2021, our crews went there 17 times to do the repairs near the buffer zone. They eliminated the wire cuts and openings, changed insulators, repaired equipment of transformer substations," says Oleksii Degtyarev, Head of DTEK Donetsk Grids. “Our employees returned power to 2,185 households in the front-line zone."

Since the lines are in the gray zone, it was needed to get additional coordination with the Joint Center for Control and Coordination on Ceasefire Issues and involve representatives of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine and the OSCE to do the repairs.

It should be noted that the mechanism for carrying out repairs near the buffer zone is regulated by the relevant Procedure set in force by the combined forces command. It says that it is possible to do the emergency restoration work in the front-line zone only if there are bilateral guarantees of the cease-fire.

The power restoration in the Opytne village was the most significant power recovery in the front-line zone in 2021. Overhead line, electrical equipment, and transformer substation were destroyed there six years ago. Due to regular military actions, it was impossible to restore the power line. The company began working in Opytne only after receiving the required permits and security guarantees for their workers. During work, the substation was replaced, and a new line of 3 km was laid.

In 2021, DTEK Donetsk Grids restored the operation of three high-voltage lines, nine lines of medium-low voltage and 99 transformer substations damaged because of shelling, returned the power to 2,185 households of the front-line zone.

In total, since the beginning of military actions in this area, DTEK Donetsk Grid restored the power supply at substations and power lines over 16,000 times.