Energy Groundhog Day, Or soon we will all be Russian IPSO

Remember, a week ago we sat without light for 15-18 hours.

On Thursday, the director of the Center for Energy Research, Oleksandr Kharchenko, said that on July 16, two current transformers burned out at the South Ukrainian Nuclear Power Plant (PAES).

And on Friday in the Rada there was an hour of questions for the government and the servant-deputy Kostyuk asked the Minister of Energy that there were all kinds of stuff going on here, journalists were quoting some expert, is it true?

“Yesterday, the Center for Countering Disinformation published a refutation that it was all fake. The most interesting thing is that this information first appeared on Russian channels. That is, Russian channels... because even when we give communication, we never indicate an object, we do not indicate a specific station or substation, we give more general communication,” Galushchenko answered.

“This information about the South Ukrainian station appeared on the Russian channel. Then, I don’t even want to comment on these experts, it flew into the Ukrainian media space. This is not true, the block is online and working. The question is why this is being done, but I think we will forward it to the competent authorities, who should work with those people and ask why they are introducing Russian narratives into our media space,” the minister emphasized.

Well, scaring journalists and experts with the special services is, of course, by no means imitation of the country with which we are at war.

Blaming all your mistakes on the Russian IPSO is already a tradition of the Ministry of Energy. Especially when it comes to the minister’s favorite atom. We just need to develop it, because nowhere is it so convenient to steal. We are building two new nuclear units instead of investing in gas turbines and decentralized generation.

But yesterday, Yaroslav Zheleznyak published a response to a deputy’s request to Ukrenergo in his Telegram. This response confirmed to him the “extraordinary event” that occurred at the South Ukrainian Nuclear Power Plant on July 15.

“On July 15, 2024, one unit was operating at the South Ukrainian NPP until it was turned off at 23-58, after which not a single unit at the South Ukrainian NPP was in operation. In the evening of July 16, 2024, at the Yuzhnoukrainskaya NPP, the unit was connected to the network after the defects in the busbar and switches of the 330 kV block transformer were eliminated,” the response says.

“As a result, the first power unit with a load of 1000 MW, as well as three power lines, switched off. A short circuit occurred in the measuring current transformer, followed by destruction and fire. As a result, emergency shutdown schedules were introduced in the southeastern region, and in the central regions, including the city of Kyiv, the time for disconnecting consumers from the power grid significantly increased,” Zheleznyak wrote.

It would seem that there is nothing left to cover. You can simply cover your face with your hands in shame.

But no... the ministry continues to stand its ground... that this is a Russian fake.

“There was no shutdown of the power transformer, which was mentioned in the widespread fake news, at the station. If such an event occurred, it would make it impossible to supply electricity and would actually lead to the need to shut down the nuclear unit,” the Ministry of Energy wrote.

I don’t know about anyone, but my news from the Ministry of Energy will soon turn into news from Arestovich. Oh, and there’s already a running joke between colleagues: who is working at the Russian IPSO today?