Ukraine cannot repair Kakhovka power plant given current state of construction sector – research

Due to a shortage of staff, Ukraine will not have enough specialists to rebuild the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) and equip the reservoir.

Source: the Confederation of Employers of Ukraine, which conducted research to evaluate the availability of qualified staff in Ukraine needed to build the dam and HPP and equip the reservoir

"If the rebuilding starts in 2024, then it will be difficult or impossible to find experienced and qualified specialists in Ukraine," the research concludes.  

"It can be stated with a high degree of probability that there are not enough specialists in Ukraine to repair a reservoir covering an area of 2,160 sq. km (two and a half times the size of Kyiv) and with a coastline of 896 km (the distance between Lviv and Kharkiv), as well as drainage channels 1,100 km long, and to build a new HPP, all within five years working 24/7," the Confederation of Employers said.

According to forecasts, in the area where the Kakhovka HPP and its dam and reservoir are located (Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Odesa and Kherson oblasts), there will be staffing shortages (6% to 45%) just in the three areas which would require the biggest number of skilled employees – fitters, operators of heavy construction equipment (bulldozers, graders), and concrete structure installers.

"All the aforementioned workers will be needed to repair the reservoir, equip the channels, build the HPP constructions and install the equipment. Given the fact that there is not just the HPP but also dozens of cities and hundreds of villages that need to be rebuilt in the macro region, it can be concluded that there will most likely be a shortage of these specialists," the research states.

The Confederation of Employers of Ukraine remarked that in order to plug the gap in the short timeframe, it will be necessary to apply the experience of the military, in which thousands of Ukrainian servicemen have mastered new professions and new equipment.

"These processes are based on a clear understanding that a certain number of specialists was needed based on the tasks and quantity and types of equipment in the combat zone. The same approach must be used on the ‘labour front’, with some adjustment to include freedom of career choice, salary level and working conditions," the research states.

Background: Ukraine has taken the first step towards building the new Kakhovka HPP and its water reservoir – Ukrhydroenergo has signed a Memorandum of Collaboration with the Canadian company Aecon Construction Global Services Inc. for the construction of hydroelectric power plants in Ukraine. Aecon is the main contractor of the Site C generating station in western Canada.

Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers has adopted a project of rebuilding the Kakhovka HPP with an experimental timeframe and wants to rebuild the HPP in two years, despite the fact that specialists consider 5-7 years to be the minimum time required.

However, the Kakhovka HPP may not need to be rebuilt if a number of technical issues related to the draining of the Kakhovka reservoir are resolved.

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