原文链接：https://medium.com/@giorgioprovinciali/4f3bef92bc53?sk=5e29508aa784cf1b92fb72433ec0454d
Ukraine Needs Innovative Aid to Strengthen Its Energy Resilience
By: Giorgio Provinciali
Live from Ukraine
Troieshchyna, Kyiv — Starting in its capital, Ukraine faces the challenge of quickly finding solutions to increasingly frequent and prolonged power blackouts caused by Russia’s inhumane attacks on its civilian infrastructure.
This is one of the most difficult weeks for Ukraine’s energy system since 2022, as two combined attacks between January 20 and 23 have overloaded it, leaving up to 85% of its customers without power. This continues to occur against the backdrop of severe frost and damage caused by previous bombings, as last night the Russian Federation bombarded the Kyiv region with drones and other missiles of various types, causing at least two deaths and a dozen serious injuries. A few hours earlier, the Russian air force had launched around fifty long-range, high-explosive drones against energy plants and other civilian targets in Odesa, causing dozens more injuries, including children.
While rescue operations continued to extract civilians from the rubble of at least five severely damaged apartment buildings, Russian forces struck a passenger train in Kharkiv, killing five people and injuring many others who were fleeing from Lozova to Lviv in those very carriages. In Smilne, in the latter oblast’, following yet another Russian attack, carbon monoxide levels were so high that local authorities issued a statement urging residents to stay home, not ventilate their premises, and go out only when absolutely necessary, wearing disposable masks.
As DTek technicians observed, «the destruction is colossal». In the district of the capital we are writing from, local authorities have set up around a hundred tents with generators and technical equipment to support the population by providing meals, hot drinks, and a more or less stable internet connection. The video we recorded from some of those neslamnosti punktiv clearly shows what Russia is bombing: children, the elderly, and disabled people who are already fighting a worse illness, requiring them to continue often complicated therapies inside those shelters.
When electricity returns, many residents simultaneously turn on high-energy devices, such as the heater. This is understandable, given that the outside temperature is at least 10 degrees below zero and is expected to drop even further to -25ºC in a couple of days, as it was up to a few days ago. However, this synchronous reconnection leads to new failures. Therefore, DTek technicians have asked the residents of Troieshchyna to «avoid the use of powerful electrical appliances because the local grids have taken on the role of ‘batteries’ for which they were not designed».
This statement is technically correct and accurately describes what happens to a damaged electrical grid when it is used as if it were intact. Power grids are not designed to store energy but to transport it instantly from generation to load. When they are affected in the manner the Russian Federation aims to — that is, by damaging lines, degrading transformers, and affecting generators — the capacity to deliver peak power is reduced, the lines’ equivalent impedance increases, and the grid loses the ability to absorb load transients.
In practice, when power returns, the grid behaves like an elastic, unstable system rather than a rigid backbone. Any sudden increase in load causes localized voltage drops and surges.
The analogy with a “battery” is strictly inappropriate yet functionally perfect: the grid is forced to buffer rapid load variations without either storage or structural margin.
In neighborhoods like Troieschyna, the problem is more serious because this part of the Desnianskyj district has high population density, Soviet-era buildings with outdated internal electrical systems, and heavy reliance on emergency electric heating. Suffice it to say that after the Chornobyl disaster, 18,000 people alone flocked here.
Under these conditions, involuntary synchronization of behaviors (everyone turns on when the lights come back on) is almost guaranteed: the grid is subjected to continuous cyclical stress, which causes material fatigue and, therefore, recurring failures.
After gathering several testimonies and pieces of information, we believe it is essential to explain how Ukraine’s partners can help more effectively by providing technological tools that open the way to innovative solutions beyond current practices.
Today, the focus remains on “restoring the grid and asking the population to save money”. In a context of infrastructure that is already partly decentralized but repeatedly affected, this approach is no longer sufficient.
Equipping the local grid with tools capable of absorbing shocks — through intelligent load management, neighborhood electrochemical storage, and thermal storage systems such as PCM tanks (thermal accumulators that use Phase Change Materials to store and release heat) — would allow for a structural reduction in the use of impulsive electrical heating, which is currently one of the main causes of cascading failures.
The provision of neighborhood-based battery energy storage systems (BESS) would be a direct response to the phenomenon known in power engineering as cold-load pickup (peaks after blackouts).
By 2025, DTek had installed over 67,000 smart meters, and in Ukraine, the penetration of these devices is already significant and growing, as they help temporarily limit power per household (staircase/building/neighborhood) only during the critical window.
Therefore, it’s not a matter of asking civilians to “resist better”, but of rethinking the architecture of energy resilience in a country under attack, shifting the focus from individual discipline to the robustness of the infrastructure.
It is on this basis, more than on the number of generators or the rhetoric of emergency, that a decisive part of Ukraine’s ability to weather the winter without succumbing to Russia’s strategy of attrition will be played out.
The continuous blackouts severely damaged the heating system of our house in Western Ukraine while we were in Donbas.
Without electricity, the pump couldn’t circulate the liquid while the fire was lit. As a result, the system caught fire, and the whole house was at risk of burning. Fortunately, it did not, but the whole system needs to be changed, and the house needs to be restored. Tubes are all bent, walls are blackened by haze, and the heating system doesn’t work, requiring an entirely new system.
We are doing our best since Alla’s parents live there, but there’s still a lot to work on here, too, as the people around us are in no better situation.
We’re renewing our fundraising campaign and thanking everyone who joins to help us restore what Russia is destroying. Even a small donation helps. We’ll keep you updated on developments.
Thank you all, friends
乌克兰需要创新援助以加强其能源韧性
作者：Giorgio Provinciali
翻译：旺财球球
乌克兰前线报道
特罗耶什奇纳，基辅——从首都开始，乌克兰面临着迅速寻找应对方案的挑战，以应对俄罗斯对其民用基础设施发起的非人道袭击所导致的愈发频繁且持续时间更长的停电事故。
这是自2022年以来乌克兰能源系统最艰难的时段，1月20日至23日期间发生的两波联合袭击使电网超负荷，导致多达85%的用户断电。在严寒天气和此前轰炸造成的破坏的背景下，这种情况仍在继续，俄罗斯联邦用无人机和各种类型的导弹对基辅地区进行轰炸，造成至少2人死亡、十余人重伤。几小时前，俄空军对敖德萨的能源设施和其他民用目标发射了约五十枚远程高爆无人机，导致包括儿童在内的数十人受伤。
在救援人员持续从至少五栋严重受损的住宅楼废墟中救出平民之际，俄军袭击了哈尔科夫的一列客运列车，造成5人死亡，多名乘客受伤——这些乘客正乘坐这辆列车从洛佐瓦撤往利沃夫。在斯米尔内（隶属上述州），在又一次俄方袭击后，一氧化碳浓度飙升，当地当局发布通告，敦促居民尽量呆在家中、不要通风、仅在绝对必要时外出并佩戴一次性口罩。
正如DTek技术人员观察到的，“破坏程度惊人”。在我们撰写报道所在的首都辖区，当地政府已经设置了大约一百个配备发电机和技术设备的帐篷，为民众提供餐食、热饮以及相对稳定的网络连接。我们在部分“恢复点”拍摄的视频清楚显示俄罗斯轰炸的对象：儿童、老年人和已患重病、需要在这些避难所中继续接受复杂治疗的残疾人。
（图：Alla与一名在乌克兰基辅的neslamnosti点内避难的妇女交谈——版权所有，Giorgio Provinciali）
当电力恢复时，许多居民会同时开启高功率电器，例如取暖器。在室外气温至少零下10摄氏度并预计在两天内会进一步降至零下25摄氏度的情况下（正如几天前所见），这种做法可以理解。然而，这种同步重启会导致新的故障。因此，DTek技术人员已呼吁特罗耶什奇纳居民“避免使用大功率电器，因为这样本地电网要被迫承担并非它能胜任的‘电池’功能”。
从技术上讲，这一说法是正确的，并准确描述了在受损电网被当作完好无损使用时会发生的情况。电网并不是用来储能的、而是将能量从发电端输送到负载端。当电网遭受俄罗斯联邦所意图的那种破坏——损坏线路、破坏变压器、影响发电机——其峰值供电能力下降，线路等效阻抗上升，电网吸收负载瞬变的能力丧失。
实际上，当电力恢复时，电网更像是一个弹性的、不稳定的系统，而非坚固的主干。任何负载的突然增加都会造成局部电压下降或过冲。
“电池”的比喻在严格意义上并不恰当，但在功能上却极为贴切：电网被迫在没有储能或结构裕度的情况下缓冲快速的负载波动。
（图：靠近基辅特罗耶什奇纳的一个避难所内，Alla和身边一张儿童课桌，乌克兰——版权所有，Giorgio Provinciali）
（视频：DTek技术人员在工作——媒体内容由Ukrinform提供）
在像特罗耶什奇纳这样的社区，问题尤为严重。该区属德斯尼扬斯基区，人口密度高，苏联时代建筑众多，室内电气系统已陈旧，而且居民严重依赖应急电加热。仅切尔诺贝利事故后，就有1.8万人涌入该地区。
在这种条件下，无意的同步行为，例如当电力恢复时每个人都同时开启电器，几乎不可避免：电网承受持续的周期性应力，导致材料疲劳，从而引发反复的故障。
在收集了若干证词和信息后，我们认为有必要说明，乌克兰的合作伙伴可以通过提供开启创新解决方案的技术工具，超越现有做法，更有效地提供帮助。
目前，关注点仍停留在“修复电网并呼吁民众节约用电”。在基础设施已部分去中心化且屡遭破坏的背景下，这种方法已不再足够。
应为本地电网配备能够吸收冲击的工具——通过智能负载管理、社区级电化学储能和热储能系统（例如采用相变材料的热蓄能罐）——可以从结构上减少冲击式电加热的使用，而这正是目前引发级联故障的主要原因之一。
在社区层面部署的电池储能系统（BESS）可以直接应对电力工程中所谓的“冷负荷重启”现象（停电后恢复供电时出现的峰值）。
到2025年，DTek已安装超过67,000个智能电表，乌克兰此类设备的普及率已相当可观且持续增长，因为它们可以在关键时段临时限制每户（楼梯间/整栋楼/街区）的用电量。
因此，不应把问题归结为“要求平民更克制”，而应重新构想在受袭国家的能源韧性架构，将重点从个人自律转向基础设施的稳健性。
正是在这一基础上，而非仅仅靠发电机数量或应急口号，决定性地影响着乌克兰能否挺过寒冬，而不被俄罗斯的消耗战略击垮。
（图：本文作者在乌克兰基辅特罗耶什奇纳实地报道——版权所有，Giorgio Provinciali）
持续的停电严重损坏了我们在乌克兰西部的家中的供暖系统，而我们当时就在顿巴斯。
没有电，点着的炉火无法通过水泵循环热水。结果，系统起火，整个房子面临着烧毁的风险。幸而未被烧毁，但整个系统需要更换，房子也需要修复。管道都是歪的，墙壁被烟雾熏黑，供暖系统无法正常工作，需要彻底更换。
我们正在尽最大努力，因为Alla的父母住在那里，但这里还有许多工作要做，周围的人处境也好不到哪儿去。
我们正在重启筹款活动，感谢每一位支持我们修复被俄罗斯摧毁一切的朋友。即使是小额捐款也有帮助。我们会及时更新进展。
感谢大家，朋友们。
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