Experts say that although preparations are better than in previous years, air defence will be key to withstanding expected mass strikes.
On Wednesday, Ukraine's Prime Minister Serhiy Koretsky said Russian forces had begun massed strikes on energy facilities in Kyiv, the surrounding region and other parts of the country.
In September, a UN commission warned that new attacks on critical infrastructure were making civilians more vulnerable ahead of winter.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), Ukraine had about 44 gigawatts (GW) of generating capacity available before Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.
By the start of last winter's heating season, the figure was around 16 GW.
Mykhailo Honchar, an energy and security expert who heads the Strategy XXI think tank, told the Polish news agency PAP that no one could be fully ready in a war that kept changing, but that the level of preparation was higher than before.
Thermal, hydroelectric and pumped-storage plants are the most exposed to air attack, he said, and the biggest challenge in protecting large facilities is having enough air defence systems.
Ukraine also has a clear emergency plan for widespread or prolonged power cuts, drawing on the experience of grid operator Ukrenergo and private energy firm DTEK.
It includes staff trained to work in wartime conditions, rapid-response teams and stocks of equipment to replace damaged parts.
One of the most dangerous scenarios this winter would be an attempt to cut Energoatom, which runs the nuclear plants, off from the national grid, Honchar added.
Nuclear power supplies almost 63 percent of the country's electricity, and Russia tried to disconnect it on 26 August 2024 but failed.
Ukrainian businesses are also adapting.
Serhiy Zinkevych, co-owner of solar firm SUNSAY, told PAP that repeated shelling of the power grid had changed demand.
Previously, he said, 90 percent of its orders were for solar panels, but now the same share is for energy storage systems, which give companies more independence.
Meanwhile, the American newspaper the New York Times has reported that Russia is preparing its largest campaign of strikes on Ukraine's energy sector, using up to 1,000 missiles, drones and aerial bombs.
(ał)
Source: PAP, nytimes.com