Electricity transfer to Ukraine suspended

Chisinau, July 16 /MOLDPRES/- On July 12-21, the electricity transfer capacity for commercial exchanges on Moldova/Ukraine border will be limited to 0 MW in both directions. Moldelectrica made the statement today. The enterprise said that the decision to limit the electricity transmission capacity through the high-voltage lines was taken as a result of the increase in electricity consumption in Moldova, which inevitably also led to changes in technical parameters caused by extreme weather conditions and high temperatures in the recent period.
"One of the negative effects of the high temperatures is overheating of the conductor and changes in the distance between the phase conductor and the ground, also called overhead power line sags, which leads to a decrease in the transfer capacity," Moldelectrica announced.
According to the company, high temperatures increase the thermal resistance of the conductors, which leads to their expansion and, implicitly, to a change in the length of the conductor, reducing the vertical distance to the ground. 
Last week, Moldelectrica registered three disconnections on the 400 kV Vulcănești-MGRES overhead power line segment. These disconnections were caused by thermal variations and high mechanical stress on the conductors. Another factor to be mentioned is the worsening of the cooling conditions of the generation facilities, which implies some limitations on their availability for generation.