The South African coal for Ukrainian thermal power stations would cost at least $70 per ton.
According to the energy expert Valentin Zemlyansky, the announced price of SAR coal doesn’t take offloading cost at the port ($6.8 per ton) into consideration.
Moreover the calorie content of this coal is 5200 kcal, while that of Ukrainian origin is 5700 kcal.
“The lower calorie content, the more coal will be needed to produce electricity. Ukrainian TPSs would produce 55 million kW-h more power from 320 thousand tons of Ukrainian coal, which will be enough to feed the whole Kharkiv region for 3 days”, he said.
If both coals had the same calorie content, the SAR coal would cost $70 per ton, or 1680 UAH. While domestically mined anthracite would cost 1350 UAH per ton.
The expert believes Ukraine has no alternative but to buy domestic coal. First of all, it’s cheaper. Second, logistics limitations should also be taken into account: Ukrainian ports cannot take more than 400 thousand tons of coal per months. Thermal power generation tariffs don’t cover the cost of imported fuel.
Earlier the energy and coal industry minister Vladimir Demchishyn has noted that the SAR coal at the local ports costs $57 per ton, without transportation expenses. (Ukrainian metal)
