The Crimean power system could not withstand the influx of migrants from Russia

The power system of the occupied Crimea is operating at its limit, unable to withstand the load. Even the key power bridge from Russia is no longer able to compensate for the chronic lack of capacity, which is only getting worse every year.

This was reported by Krym.Realii.

In the annexed Crimea, there is a systemic shortage of electricity, which is recognized by the local authorities controlled by Russia. The power bridge from Krasnodar Krai, built after 2015, is no longer able to fully cover the needs of the region, which remained in energy shortage even before the occupation.

According to official data from Krymenergo, despite the construction of new substations, the existing infrastructure is not enough to provide stable power to consumers. There are more than 10,000 substations in the region, but this is not enough to cover the ever-growing demand.

One of the key reasons for the deficit is the sharp increase in population after 2014, in particular due to the massive resettlement of Russian citizens. Simferopol, the southern coast of Crimea and the surrounding areas are under the greatest pressure. The exact number of Russians who moved to Crimea after its annexation in 2014 remains unknown. According to official Russian statistics, since then the population of the peninsula has increased by 43,500 people, and in Sevastopol by 155,000.

The Representative Office of the President of Ukraine in the AR of Crimea noted that the real scale could be even greater. According to their estimates, over the past ten years, the Russian authorities have replaced more than a third of the peninsula's population, and the number of people resettled there reaches about a million.

Despite the overloading of the power system, new land plots in Crimea continue to be actively connected to the power grid, which the occupation authorities allocate for construction for participants in the war against Ukraine. We are talking about more than five thousand plots of land to be supplied with electricity.

Due to the lack of capacity , power engineers are forced to manually balance the system to avoid collapse. At the same time, emergency power outages occur regularly, leaving both major cities and resort regions, including Yalta, Feodosia, Alushta, and Yevpatoria, without electricity.

Russian expert circles are also discussing the option of compensating for the electricity shortage in Crimea by using the capacities of the seized Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant. At the same time, Russia's attempts to integrate the plant into its own power grid have so far failed.

The situation with water supply is also deteriorating in Crimea. In the Bilohirsk district, a significant decrease in water levels in key reservoirs - the Bilohirsk Reservoir and the Taigan Reservoir - has been recorded.

Анна Літман