---
title: "Shifting leaders in power outages: how weather and shelling affect Ukraine's power grid"
description: "Ukraine's power grid faces new challenges: the Sumy region, previously leading in outages, has been overtaken by the Donetsk region due to shelling. 🌩️ Additionally, rainy weather has reduced solar panel output, leading to a 7.9% increase in grid load."
date: 2026-07-03T09:14:00.000Z
lang: en
url: https://xab.info/en/posts/shifting-leaders-in-power-outages-how-weather-and-shelling-affect-ukraines-power-grid
tags: []
publisher: "XAB.info"
---

# Shifting leaders in power outages: how weather and shelling affect Ukraine's power grid

![Women cooking by candlelight in a dark kitchen during a power outage in Ukraine](https://xab.info/media/2026/07/03/smena-liderov-v-otklyucheniyakh-energosistema-ukrainy/smena-liderov-v-otklyucheniyakh-energosistema-ukrainy-1.webp)

Ukraine's energy map continues to change under the influence of external factors. If the Sumy region was recently leading in the number of outages, the situation has now changed. On the morning of July 3, the highest number of new power cuts was recorded in the Donetsk region due to the consequences of enemy shelling and infrastructure damage.

### Weather versus the sun

Paradoxically, the lack of sunshine has become the cause of increased load on the general grid. As of 09:30, electricity consumption exceeded Thursday's figures by 7.9%. The culprit is cloudy weather with rain that has covered the western and central regions. Reduced efficiency of household solar power plants forces consumers to draw more energy from the centralized system.

### Evening peak and absence of schedules

Yesterday, July 2, the daily maximum consumption was recorded in the evening. It was 4.4% higher than on Wednesday, July 1. Experts link this growth to the absence of forced restrictions. The reminder that just 24 hours ago, on July 1, strict hourly outage schedules were in effect in all regions from 17:00 to 22:00 due to heat and the aftermath of attacks, only highlights the current dynamics.

### Restoration and local issues

In addition to the Donetsk region, individual consumers remain without power in the Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions. Where the situation allows, energy workers have already begun emergency restoration work, striving to restore power to subscribers as quickly as possible. Earlier, after a massive attack, parts of Kyiv were also left without electricity, where restoration also began promptly.