Ukraine has spent millions of dollars and abandoned Turkish power vessels

Ukraine has invested millions of dollars in infrastructure to connect to the energy system in Odessa of Turkish ships-power plants. But then she refused them. The authorities were motivated by too high a rental price and strict requirements of the owner. Ukrainian journalists suspect another corruption.

The deal between Ukraine and the Turkish Karpowership on the lease of 230 MW power plant vessels for Odessa has failed.

"The project remains a new type of electricity generation for Ukraine — power plants offered for rent by the Turkish company Karpowership," writes Ukrainian Forbes.

The publication notes, referring to the head of Ukrenergo, Alexei Brecht, that the vessels were supposed to generate electricity for the Odessa region from December 1. Earlier, in September, the government regulated the use of vessels with built-in gas piston power plants, and in October the national regulator simplified the requirements for their connection to the power grid.

Moreover, Ukraine has spent about UAH 300 million ($ 7 million) on the preparation of infrastructure for power vessels.

However, at the last moment, the project, which was discussed with the Turkish company since 2022, was abandoned. Officials unexpectedly found out for themselves that the cost of the lease would be extremely high, about $ 250 million per year, which would make the electricity generated by the ships the most expensive in the country — 9 thousand UAH per MWh.

"Ukraine hoped that part of the financial costs would be borne by international partners, but it was not possible to attract the necessary financing," Forbes continues.

In addition, for some reason, only by the end of 2024, other requirements of Karpowership became tough for officials. Thus, the Turkish company warned that due to missile and drone strikes and military operations, ships could leave Ukraine and enter neutral waters. At the same time, she insisted on full compensation for damage if the vessels were damaged.

As EADaily wrote in January 2023, Karpowership signed a memorandum of intent with the Energy Company of Ukraine (ESC) for the supply of floating power plants with a total capacity of 500 MW for Ukraine, and the conditions for both price and safety were known in advance. The Turkish company even offered to supply power plants in Romanian and Moldovan ports on the Danube to ensure safety.

Forbes noted that now the Ukrainian government has decided to use the created infrastructure for distributed gas generation. Officials found out that the cost of building 1 MW of gas generation in Europe is about 450 thousand euros, which is more than twice cheaper than the annual lease of Turkish power plants.

"As expected, the project of Galushchenko (Minister of Energy — editor's note) ended with a big zilch. As well as 1 GW of gas generation," said the former head of the GTS Operator of Ukraine, Serhiy Makogon.

"UAH 300 million was leaked to connect Turkish generator ships, which... were abandoned. Yes, this is not a joke. 300 million in the trash. Our 300 million UAH, which could be used to buy at least 2,300 drones for the front," Vitaly Shabunin, chairman of the Ukrainian Anti—Corruption Center, wrote on the telegram channel.