‘Our office was hit by a cruise missile’: Ukraine’s energy exchange keeps trading, but it needs help

Amidst war, the Ukrainian energy industry is keeping the grid stable, the system operational and trading active. But it needs help. I meet Lisse Geert van Vliet, who is Business Developer at the Ukrainian Energy Exchange (UEEX) and currently working from Amsterdam.

We are in an Amsterdam Café, far away from the horrors of the war, and I ask Lisse Geert about the welfare of his colleagues in Ukraine. His answer is not positive.

“My colleagues are not doing well”, Lisse explains. “One way or the other, all of them are affected by the war. Many have lost loved ones. Moreover, not everyone is safe yet. My colleagues in Kyiv and Poltava, where our offices are situated, are in great danger.

“One of our offices was hit by a cruise missile. Luckily nobody got injured this time, but the shooting continues. Our staff size is about 90 people. Some employees were forced to leave the country, some found temporary shelter a little further from active hostilities – although it is unsafe now throughout the country – and some remained in their cities. But each of them is firmly convinced that this is temporary”.

Operating remotely

Despite the tragedy Lisse’s colleagues are going through, they are still managing to keep UEEX operational. “UEEX is still active and trading still takes place. Liquidity, however, is low and all systems need to be operated remotely.

“UEEX has completely switched to remote work, so the team can continue to work, wherever the employees are. On the first day of the war, UEEX was under a powerful hacker attack from the Russian Federation, but all these attacks were repulsed by the IT security service of the exchange.”

To illustrate what the current trading volumes look like, Lisse asked his colleague Inna Shcherbyna, Deputy Chair of the Exchange Committee, to share the latest status.

Via email, she explains that trading volumes have fallen significantly, but “UEEX, under martial law, organizes trading according to the usual schedule”.

“The UEEX team has been in constant communication with clients to ensure a stable bidding process. From February 24 to March 12, trading sessions were held in the areas of natural gas, liquefied gas, petroleum products and raw wood.

“The organization of electricity trading is of great importance, because through the UEEX both state and private generating companies of Ukraine realize the generation, which is important for meeting the needs of end consumers.

“During this period, 16 auctions were held in specialized sections and seven in commercial ones. The initiators were Guaranteed Buyer, Centrenergo, Ukrhydroenergo, PUPs and OSRs.

“For example, Ukrhydroenergo sold 17,360 MWh at the auction, with delivery in March. The Guaranteed Buyer sold 34,110 MWh based on the results of two auctions, base load and block positions of green electricity with supply during March and April.

“In the commercial sections, the initiating companies purchased 331.84 thousand MWh electricity. In total, 1698.2 thousand MWh were sold at UEEX during this period. The final value of the monthly base load index for March is 2366.2 UAH/MWh.”

The status of the energy system

Shcherbyna says the energy system of Ukraine has been operating despite the constant shelling, and the frequency in the network is maintained at the level of 50 Hz by Ukrainian power engineers.

“All types of power plants are operating: nuclear, thermal, hydroelectric and renewable energy sources. The level of consumption has stabilized. Today electricity is produced enough to provide domestic, military and other consumers.

“After the shelling, distribution system operators must constantly work to restore the distribution networks, which the occupiers purposefully destroy. However, the repair teams of the oblenergo and NPC Ukrenergo are still using every opportunity to restore power supply.”

From business developer to crisis manager

Since the war broke out, Lisse transformed from a business developer into a crisis manager. But what does this entail?  “In cooperation with Energy Community, we have established a crisis team for the energy sector in Ukraine – the Ukraine Emergency Support Group.

“We were able to gather representatives from important institutions in Ukraine's energy sector. This includes the TSOs, the Ministries of Energy and Economy, the President's office and other affiliated persons.

“With them, we are coordinating an international outreach for support. The Energy Community Secretariat does the coordination of international help and became the central contact point for donors.

Furthermore, an information collection exercise was started by the Ukrainian side to see what the immediate needs were for the energy sector. The list of needs was coordinated with Kadri Simson‘s cabinet and through the Commission, a call was sent out to the national capitals through the ERCC - Emergency Response Coordination Centre in DG ECHO, which called for help with the logistics.

“Governments and industry stakeholders are actively contributing, although we won't be able to cite names and specific items/energy products needed/supplied.”

Important request

UEEX wants to express its deepest gratitude for those stakeholders that have decided to help and call upon everyone in the energy sector to get in contact with the Energy Community Secretariat's Ukraine Emergency Support team if you want to donate energy products such as LPG, gasoline or oil; equipment such as generators or materials for the grids; or humanitarian goods.

A full list can be shared with interested parties. If you are in a position to donate needed items at short notice, please contact: [email protected]  

Lisse closes with an emotional call from Inna Shcherbyna to the European energy sector. “Ukraine throughout the years has carried out many reforms in line with the Association Agreement and the Energy Community Treaty, with the goal of becoming a part of Europe.

“Now, the world must not be silent and it is time for each of us to do our part to stop the war. Therefore, I call upon all European industry leaders to cut all business ties with companies from the Russian Federation and cease activity on its territory.”

The Ukrainian energy market will be further discussed at the Conference on Energy Trading Central and South Eastern Europe (ETCSEE), taking place on 15 & 16 June in Budapest.