Boston, MA USA – On March 27, Ukrainian World Congress President and CEO of Rodan Energy Paul Grod presented the Energize Ukraine platform at the 2023 International Conference of Doble Clients.
The 90th International Conference of Doble Clients gathered the leaders of the power industry in one place at one time, addressing the concerns of the power industry through education, discussion, and collaboration.
Since 1934, Doble has hosted customer conferences to allow utilities to exchange ideas, collaborate, and solve challenges. Through feedback and collaboration, Doble provides a comprehensive scope of diagnostic products. The company is dedicated to helping the global power industry overcome its challenges.
Paul Grod, President of the Ukrainian World Congress, and Mykyta Vyshnevskyi, Chief Market Operations Officer for NPC UKRENERGO, discussed the widespread damage to the power grid and the urgent need for high-voltage electrical equipment and collaboration with international partners.
Grod spoke as part of the keynote session on Monday, March 27, to the audience of utility asset managers.
“Since October last year, there were 1200 rocket and drone attacks targeting Ukraine’s power infrastructure,” he said.
“They’re trying to decimate the infrastructure and bring Ukraine to its knees,” he added.
After Grod spoke, Mykyta Vyshnevskyi, the Chief Market Operations Officer for NPC Ukrenergo, took the stage.
He showed the audience a map of Ukraine to highlight its size. He explained the energy mix (55% Nuclear, 30% Thermal and CHP, 7% Hydro and Pumped Storage, and 8% renewables, including wind, solar, and biomass). He stated that, from October 2022 to February 2023, up to 12 million Ukrainians had been without power due to Russian attacks on the power system, resulting in the damage or destruction of 43% of the country’s high-voltage networks.
Finally, he presented a list of specific equipment the country is seeking, including autotransformers, transformers, circuit breakers, and disconnectors.
Grod explained the process for donated equipment. He said that Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) handles logistics for the shipping of the donations. Once a utility has identified a piece as something it would like to donate, UWC puts a Ukrainian engineer in touch with the utility to perform a technical review of the equipment. Once deemed acceptable, UWC provides documentation to the entities for signatures, arranges logistics, and the piece is shipped to Ukraine. After it arrives, UWC reports how and where the equipment has been used to the utility for transparency and verification.
After the presentation, Brian Snyder, a Solutions Director at Doble, said that Doble engineers could theoretically provide remote testing and diagnostic assistance on donated equipment in Ukraine from the U.S. if the Ukrainian technician were to put on a pair of smart glasses. In addition, one audience member asked if there would be opportunities for utility engineers to go to the country and help on-site.
