KYIV, Feb 3 – A major fossil fuel-burning power plant in Zaporizhia region unexpectedly shut down on Wednesday, briefly leaving several regional cities without power supply, due to suspected short circuit, officials said.

The malfunction comes hours after the energy sector regulatory authority has issued a warning that Ukraine’s power system faces a threat of a major accident due to critically low supplies of coal.

There were no indications the malfunction at DTEK Zaporizhia TPP had been related to the critical level of coal, but the country’s entire power system has been operating under major strain for months.

The sudden shutdown of three power units with total capacity of 750 MW cut off power supply to Energodar, a city with population of 53,000 that houses families of workers of nearby Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest.

A sudden shutdown of a major power plant is capable of creating a disbalance in the system that may escalate into a serious accident.

“Due to the short circuit at the substation, the safety system at Zaporizhia TPP was activated, preventing a major accident,” DTEK said in a statement. “The shutdown of the plant led to a short-term power outage in Energodar, but the city's energy supply had been since restored.”

Oleksandr Starukh, the governor of the Zaporizhia region, said emergency crews have been working to completely restore power supplies to all Energodar consumers.

“In the shortest possible time, the city's power supply was restored through a backup line,” Starukh said. “During the shutdown, all hospitals were provided with uninterruptible power supply, using backup power generators.”

“Work on the restoration of power supply continues,” he added. “Currently, power is restored to 2 of the 3 existing lines."

The National Energy Regulating Commission, which just completed an emergency inspection of all regional fossil fuel-burning power plants, issued a warning earlier on Wednesday that the country’s power system is prone to a major accident due to critical level of coal supplies.

“The situation with coal reserves in TPP warehouses remains critical,” the commission said in a statement. “The daily reduction of coal reserves threatens the stable operation of TPP power units.”

“This may provoke a system-wide accident in the integrated power system of Ukraine and trigger emergency shutdown schedules for consumers," the commission said.

Ukraine’s coal reserves dropped to 431,900 metric tons as of February 2, down from 2.4 million mt a year ago, according to the energy ministry. The reserves at below 900,000 mt during high-demand season are considered to be critical, according to Ukrenergo, a power grid operator. (tl/ez)