According to Termoelectrica S.A., in the morning of January 31, part of the pumping stations were temporarily shut down, which affected the hydraulic regime of the heat carrier supply.
Thanks to automatic protection systems, most of the stations were restarted in automatic mode.
Termoelectrica specifies that at the CHPP (Source No. 1) all three power units are operating in normal mode, and emergency crews are involved in restoring normal heat supply parameters, including pumping stations, suburban boiler houses and central heating stations.
In the second largest city, Balti, there is also a partial lack of electricity supply in residential buildings, especially in multi-storey buildings. The elevators do not work. Municipal services and rescuers are already involved and are working to free the people blocked in the elevators. City electric transport is disconnected from the contact network. Trolleybuses will continue to run autonomously for some time.
The Ministry of Health reported that all medical facilities in the affected regions have been switched to backup power supply and continue to operate without interruption, including critical departments.
Energy Minister Dorin Junghietu explained that the accident was caused by the loss of a number of power lines on Ukrainian territory, which resulted in a reduction of the frequency in Moldova’s power system to 48 Hz and the automatic disconnection of part of the networks.
Prime Minister Alexandru Munteanu urged citizens to remain calm, follow official reports and be attentive on the roads, where some traffic lights are temporarily out of operation.
Some time ago, Ukrainian authorities released a message commenting on what is happening.
“Today at 10:42 a.m. there was a technological disturbance with simultaneous disconnection of a 400 kV line between the power systems of Romania and Moldova and a 750 kV line between the western and central parts of Ukraine. This led to a cascade outage in the Ukrainian power grid and triggering of automatic protections at substations. Units of nuclear power plants were taken out of service. Currently, special schedules of emergency shutdowns are applied by the dispatcher in Kiev, Kiev, Zhitomir, Kharkov regions. Ukrenergo power engineers are working to restore power supply. The light will be restored within the next few hours,” Energy Minister Denys Shmygal said.
President Volodymyr Zelensky heard reports from Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuliya Sviridenko and Energy Minister Denys Shmygal on the emergency situation in the Ukrainian energy system due to technological reasons on the lines between the energy systems of our country and Moldova.
“All necessary response at the level of the Ukrainian energy system is carried out, restoration works are underway. The task is to stabilize the situation in the near future,” he said.
