Germany will transfer a decommissioned 84-megawatt thermal power plant to Ukraine to assist the country with its energy supply, according to German media outlet Handelsblatt.
State energy company Naftogaz of Ukraine will transport the combined heat and power facility in parts over the coming months. Dismantling the plant will cost approximately 4.5 million euros, requiring heavy trucks and specialized transport for non-dismantlable components such as the gas turbine.
Combined heat and power plants, also known as cogeneration units, generate electricity and useful thermal energy simultaneously. This dual functionality makes them essential assets for municipal district heating networks during severe freezing weather.
Plant background and dismantling costs
The facility operated for about ten years serving the German coastal town of Lubmin in the northern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Lubmin had served as the landfall location for Russian natural gas delivered across the Baltic Sea. However, gas supplies to Lubmin ceased after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and Moscow halted flow through the undersea Nord Stream 1 pipeline, rendering the power plant redundant.
Russia has sought to win the war through a strategy of attrition, continuously targeting primary energy arteries including transmission networks, gas fields, power stations, and substations to cause blackouts and heating disruptions.
Berlin has provided energy assistance to Kyiv continuously since 2022, sending technical personnel along with equipment including 19,195 solar panels, 412 transformers, 79 generators, 172 switchgears, and 3,247 special tools.
German assistance and grid damage
The German federal government also offers financial support primarily through the Ukraine Energy Support Fund, an international energy financing mechanism established to help Kyiv purchase urgently needed replacement parts, transformers, generators, and fuel. The fund totals 2.4 billion euros, with Germany supplying one-third of that overall amount.
Systematic Russian strikes have damaged both power generation facilities and regional transmission networks across Ukraine, forcing authorities to implement emergency blackout schedules to prevent a total collapse of the national grid. Ukrainian urban centers endured severe winter freezing in 2026 after attacks cut off municipal heating systems.
Energy expert Yuriy Korolchuk noted that conditions in the national energy system at the end of this summer were worse than before the start of the previous winter. Korolchuk estimated that indoor apartment temperatures could drop to between 12 and 15 degrees Celsius during winter, with daily power cuts lasting up to 12 hours.
Prime Minister Serhiy Koretsky advised individuals with special needs who live on upper floors of high-rise apartment buildings to consider moving outside cities.
