In January-May 2007, Belarus imported 2.36 billion kWh of electricity from Ukraine and Russia, 5% more than in the same period of 2006, BelTA learnt from representatives of Belarusian energy concern Belenergo.

According to the source, by early June Belarus had imported the contractual amount of Ukrainian electricity for H1 2007 — 1.5 billion kWh, with energy imports from Ukraine suspended in June.

There is still no contract for importing Ukrainian electricity in H2 2007, negotiations are in progress. BelTA has been told, Ukraine is weighing up its energy export capacity. The dry and hot summer affected the energy generation of hydropower plants. Apart from that, Ukrainian nuclear stations are in repairs. Belenergo did not specify the possible amount of energy import from Ukraine, yet stressed Ukraine had not refused to export energy in the second half of the year.

BelTA has been told, regular energy supplies from Russia to Belarus continue.

Let us remind you, this year Belarus planned to import over 3 billion kWh of electricity from Ukraine and around 3.5 billion kWh from Russia.

According to Belenergo, in January-May 2007, Belarus’ energy consumption shrank to 98.4% as against the same period of last year. The decrease is attributed to warmer weather and energy-saving measures. Over the five months power generation by Belenergo enterprises shrank by 7.3%, heat generation — 17%.

The designed energy generation capacity of the Belarusian power engineering grid exceeds 7,800 MW. The amount can satisfy the domestic demand for electricity.

Source: http://www.belta.by