President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, of Ukraine, recently declared his nation will begin exporting 100 megawatts of electricity to the European Union through an interconnection with Romania.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm applauded the news of these new exports amid Ukraine's ongoing war with Russia in a July 2 Department of Energy news release.
“I am so thrilled with Ukraine’s accomplishment, achieved while protecting their homeland, which will pave the way to what I know they can become: a clean energy powerhouse and energy exporter to the European Union," Granholm said in the release.
The increased number of Ukrainian energy exports will expand Europe's energy supply "in the midst of Russia’s aggression," the release reported. In addition, these electricity exports would boost Ukraine's trade relations with Western allies and offer an additional supply of funds for the country's struggling energy industry.
"In my first trip abroad as secretary of Energy last August, I visited Kyiv to mark Ukraine’s Independence Day and promised our support of their ambition to disconnect from Russia’s power grid," Granholm added, according to the release. "The U.S. Department of Energy has been working on this goal non-stop since my trip, and we proudly send a huge congratulations to Energy Minister Galushchenko and his team."
Congress has allocated $30 million in emergency financing to the Office of International Affairs to facilitate Ukraine's complete integration into the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity, the release reported. The DOE also announced that, in addition to bolstering the physical and digital security of Ukraine's energy infrastructure, it plans to address significant vulnerabilities within the country's natural gas and power networks.
