The first step towards the decentralization of the energy system: the USAID gas turbine station has finally started operating in Ukraine.

The General Electric mobile gas turbine power plant with a capacity of 28 MW, which the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) handed over as humanitarian aid to the state-owned company 'Energoatom' in February 2023, has fully started operating.

This was reported by the head of NKREKP Valeriy Tarasyuk in an interview with Forbes.

'As of today, it is operational. Why it took so long [to install] is a question for 'Energoatom', - noted Tarasyuk.

According to him, the equipment supplied by the Americans was not new and required the elimination of technical defects.

Several times the already installed gas turbine did not withstand more than 72 hours of operation and shut down, but this problem, according to Tarasyuk, has already been solved, and now the installation is working normally.

The gas turbine unit from USAID was supposed to be the first step towards the decentralization of Ukraine's energy system and the development of a small generation network, as stated by the Minister of Energy Herman Galushchenko on February 7 last year during the official handover ceremony.

For the transportation, design, and installation of the gas turbine, 'Energoatom' ordered services worth more than $6 million.