Ukrainians will have to live with blackouts for a long time: there is a lack of time and money to restore generation.

The Economist notes the difficult situation: “There is too little time left and too few billions of dollars needed to install several hundred small power plants, restore bombed-out facilities, or build wind and solar power plants. Regular blackouts will become commonplace in Ukraine.”

For example, restoring the Dnipro hydroelectric plant will take at least three years. Among the 10 largest hydroelectric power plants of Ukraine, not even one remained that was not subjected to missile attacks by the Russians. By mid-July, the aggressor performed more than 120 missile strikes against them. Due to enemy shelling, Ukrhydroenergo has already lost almost 45% of its electricity generation.

Thus, in the short term, there is hope that the damaged power plants can be repaired before winter to ensure the production of another 2-3 GW of capacity. Ukrainian engineers are looking for used equipment from decommissioned Soviet-type power plants in Europe. For example, the Lithuanian energy company Ignitis Gamyba transferred the equipment of Vilnius CHP 3 to Ukraine, which was stopped in 2015.