Thread
this is really important. The Ukrainians planned ahead of this to disconnect from UES and put the grid in autonomous mode on 24th February, a date that was publicly announced
They also did it. Running successfully in autonomous mode is a criterion for membership in EN-TSO-E, the EEA++ wide synchronous grid
Now here's the next step - cutover to synchronise with EN-TSO-E. This is important in a couple of ways
For a start this is a really complicated and high risk project that has been executed while being bombed and invaded, without spilling a drop. That's impressive, and proof of increasing state capacity among other things
It's also important because the energy economy is to a large extent what this is about. Dependency on the post Soviet extractive economy was what macro-corruption, if that's a word, was paying for. That dependency, in turn, protected the ultra rich
... because the gas transit and electricity networks could be, and were, used to coerce Ukraine if anyone looked like challenging that.
Is it significant that after all the suspense, the Russians finally went for it on the 24th, as if that was a deadline?
Final thought. Putin's crack about Lenin having created Ukraine has a kernel of truth. The original GOELRO plan - Communism = Soviet power + electrification - created this huge infrastructure to exploit Ukrainian energy resources.
Check out great @kamilkazani thread: mobile.twitter.com/kamilkazani/status/1495249189831331840
You could say this is "just" switching from one imperial infrastructure to another,but the criterion I mentioned above is precisely the ability to run autonomously.
Just thought I'd kick this over to @adam_tooze and @JoMicheII for the idea of macro-corruption
