Improved situation in the energy system allowed Ukraine to reduce electricity imports in January
7 February 12:56
In January 2025, Ukraine reduced electricity imports by 56% compared to December last year, to almost 189 thousand MWh. This is evidenced by the monitoring data of ExPro Electricity, Komersant ukrainskyi reports.
The reduction in imports was, in particular, due to the improvement of the situation in the power system and the sufficiency of resources from domestic producers.
However, compared to January 2024, electricity imports increased by more than 50%.
In January 2025, most electricity was imported from Poland – 30%. Significant amounts of electricity were also imported from Hungary (25.5%) and Slovakia (almost 25%). The rest was imported from Romania and Moldova.
In general, electricity imports decreased in all directions.
But 2024 was a record year for electricity imports
In 2024, Ukraine recorded the highest electricity imports in recent years and historically lowest electricity exports. This was reported by the Ukrainian analytical center DiXi Group with reference to the data of the Energy Map portal.
In 2024, Ukraine imported 4436.6 thousand MWh of electricity, which was the highest figure for the last 11 years (actual data before 2014 are not publicly available). At the same time, electricity exports reached a historic low of 348.5 thousand MWh.
The main reason for the abnormal performance was Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. From March 22 to December 25, 2024, Russia carried out 13 massive missile and drone attacks, firing 846 missiles of various types and 866 UAVs. Of these, 230 (27%) missiles and 25 (3%) UAVs were not shot down by air defense forces or neutralized by radar systems, probably hitting their targets.
In January-February 2024, import volumes were the lowest for the year, but after the start of massive attacks by Russia, they began to grow rapidly. The peak imports were recorded in June and July, when the shelling was compounded by the abnormal heat and the traditional scheduled maintenance of some power units to prepare them for the autumn-winter period. In June, imports reached 858.4 thousand MWh, which is 6% more than the total amount purchased for the whole of 2023 (806.4 thousand MWh), and is the highest monthly figure since 2014, according to available data.
Over the year, Ukraine received 38.4% of imported electricity from Hungary (1705 thousand MWh). Ukraine imported 1036.5 thousand MWh from Slovakia (23.4% of the total), 819.6 thousand MWh from Romania (18.5%), 636.6 thousand MWh from Poland (14.3%), and 238.9 thousand MWh from Moldova (5.4%).
Electricity exports in 2024 amounted to 348.5 thousand MWh, which is 5% less than in 2023 and 90% less than in pre-war 2021.
During the year, exports were carried out to all available destinations. Most of the electricity was exported to Poland (88.4 thousand MWh, or 25.4%), Hungary received 76.6 thousand MWh (22%), Romania – 71.2 thousand MWh (20.4%), Moldova – 56.8 thousand MWh (16.3%) and Slovakia – 55.5 thousand MWh (15.9%).
