Ukrhydroenergo’s plan to spend $500 million on turbines from China, spurning turbines from Turboatom, is “economic idiocy”

Ukrhydroenergo’s plan to spend $500 million on turbines from China, spurning turbines from Turboatom, is “economic idiocy” says Viktor Halasiuk, an economist who chairs the Rada’s committee on industrial policy and entrepreneurship. Noting that the Kharkiv company works at 30% capacity with a revenue of $85 million, he said the deal with China National Electric Engineering Co. represents five years of work for Turboatom, Ukraine’s sole turbine maker. Ukrhydroenergo seeks the turbines for a planned doubling =- to 2,200 MW – of the capacity of the Dnister Pumped Storage Power Station, which is near the Moldovan border, 150 km southwest of Vinnytsia.