Working on mistakes: what kind of heating and energy supply system do Ukrainian cities need?
17 February 15:55
ANALYSIS FROM 
The Ukrainian government has announced a policy of achieving maximum energy independence for the regions. Komersant investigated what this means.
In order to make preparations for the next heating season more systematic, a few days ago the government instructed all regional military administrations to develop a plan to ensure the region’s energy security.
“Each region must have detailed plans for energy development and implement them. Everything that can be restored must be restored. Everything that can be protected must be protected, at least at the second level,” said Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko at the time.
The regional sustainability plan should be as specific as possible, indicating facilities, capacities, reserves, funding amounts, and implementation schedules.
Shared responsibility
The benchmark set by the government is formulated as follows: ensuring the region’s maximum energy autonomy. Volodymyr Omelchenko, head of energy programs at the Razumkov Center, considers the task of achieving energy independence, assigned to a separate region, to be quite questionable, since each region in Ukraine depends on the unified energy system. According to him, there is no region in Ukraine that is completely self-sufficient, for example, in terms of electricity. The expert reminds us that, for example, Energoatom accounts for 60% of the country’s energy supply, and together with Centrenergo and Ukrhydroenergo, this figure rises to around 70%. However, Volodymyr Omelchenko explains what can be done at the regional level.
“First, develop a plan for heat supply and the development of a distributed network within the region itself. This is possible. It is also possible to engage in the thermal modernization of buildings. Develop renewable energy sources such as solar panels, etc. And those regions and large cities that have been severely affected by shelling and hits on thermal power plants need to have plans to replace and restore their heat supply systems. In other words, local authorities must be responsible for ensuring that all critical infrastructure is supplied by backup sources and backup generation,” the expert notes.
How, then, can we explain the government’s appeal to regional administrations: is it the central government’s intention to organize, coordinate, and lead the energy supply process, or is it simply a desire to shift some of the responsibility to the regions? Vladimir Omelchenko’s point of view.
“What the central government does not want and what it fears is that poor preparation for the autumn-winter period will lead to a significant loss of ratings, including for individual politicians. This worries them greatly because they understand that they will not be able to completely solve the energy problems—for subjective and objective reasons, due to corruption conflicts in the energy sector, which also affect ratings—and therefore, perhaps, a framework is being formed in which much depends on local authorities. A lot really depends on local authorities… But only about 30%. This is because local authorities can only be responsible for what they own—for example, the same heat and power companies. Everything else, and above all, the provision of electricity, is a problem that depends entirely on the central government and state regulatory bodies,” the expert reminds us.
Plan for the capital
The capital was once again personally mentioned by the government leadership, as it continues to operate in a state of energy emergency after enemy strikes on Kyiv’s main thermal power plants.
“Kyiv must prepare its plan for the restoration of the Darnytsia thermal power plant and say what exactly it needs for the restoration,” said Yulia Svyrydenko.
We will remind you that Euro-Reconstruction, which owns the Darnytsia thermal power plant, reported on February 5 that the restoration of electricity generation there is technically impossible and is not planned, and now we are talking exclusively about the possibility of a partial restoration of heat supply. The company also explained that this work is already being carried out using the company’s financial and material resources, but they are not refusing any support.
Judging by the quoted statement, the government is in favor of restoring the thermal power plant. The subject of discussion in recent days has been how exactly to restore the Darnytsia Thermal Power Plant, who will do it, and at whose expense. Energy expert Stanislav Ignatiev asks several relevant questions and answers them.
“Does it make sense to restore the same Darnytsia CHP, since it was built using 1956 technology? And another thing. It is unclear who will pay for it, because there is a private owner, a private company. And will it take responsibility for the restoration and reconstruction of this thermal power plant? Instead, in my opinion, it makes sense to rebuild it in a new way to preserve our centralized heat supply system, but this should be done after the war ends so that it does not become a target for attacks even during the reconstruction phase. And to make this updated heat supply system highly efficient and highly maneuverable. Perhaps, in the case of the Darnytsia CHPP, it would be worth rebuilding it according to a public-private partnership model, where the costs are partially covered by the state and partially by the owner,” the expert emphasizes.
There is also a more radical approach to what to do with this TPP. Serhiy Makogon, former head ofthe Ukrainian Gas Transmission SystemOperator , outlined it as follows:
“The Darnytsia TPP is a private company linked to businessman Shkryblyak. I don’t think he has the ability to quickly raise the billions of hryvnia needed to restore the station before next winter. Even before the war, the company had significant debts — 1.5 billion hryvnia to Kyivteploenergo alone. Therefore, if the authorities plan to restore it (although personally I see the point in switching to a more decentralized heating system), then the logical step is to transfer it to the ownership of the city community or to state ownership. The state and the city have significant funds of their own and access to international restoration funds. And this is the standard approach in such crisis situations.”
The capital’s authorities are still deliberating. A few days ago, a Council on Energy Security and Sustainability was convened in Kyiv. Based on its conclusions, three conclusions voiced by Mayor Vitali Klitschko can be mentioned. First, it is impossible to completely replace the capital’s centralized heating system (the largest in Europe and once built for large thermal power plants) with local heat sources or cogeneration plants. Second, alternative technologies need to be implemented, but in parallel with the modernization and protection of the centralized heat supply system. Third, there is an agreement to further discuss the strategic plan for the future energy and heat supply of the capital.
Serhiy Makogon, the former head of the Ukrainian Gas Transmission System Operator, for example, argues that Kyiv needs a hybrid approach, where cogeneration plants will be supplemented by the mass installation of modular district boiler rooms. According to the expert, cogeneration will secure critical infrastructure in terms of energy, while modular boiler rooms will provide mass and reliable heat. Among the advantages is that, unlike cogeneration plants, conventional gas-fired water boilers can be quickly manufactured by hundreds of factories around the world, and modular boiler rooms with such boilers can be technically quite easily installed in Kyiv’s courtyards.
Oleksandr Sergienko, head of the City Institute, points out that Kyiv already has a number of small boiler rooms that currently provide heat to half of the city, and he is in favor of expanding this network.
“In my opinion, the emphasis should be placed on the development of this, so to speak, medium-power heat generation. This will also be centralized heating, but on a smaller scale. So that each microdistrict has such a boiler room. And if we have a large number of these thermal stations, it will be much more difficult to destroy such a system. And if we connect them into a single network, we will be able to avoid peak situations such as those in Troieshchyna or Darnytsia. And this is instead of installing mobile cogeneration units, of which we have received quite a few. But they will create additional noise and pollute the air. Although they will be useful in case of emergencies. But first of all, we need to decide on a strategy: do we focus on gigantism, on these large thermal power plants, or do we focus on mini-boiler rooms in every yard, or do we look for some kind of golden mean. We need to decide on a strategy,” the expert emphasizes.
Oleksandr Sergienko also has a proposal regarding electricity supply. He believes that we need to move from the concept of a unified energy system to the concept of unified energy islands, which, in the event of a disruption to the centralized system, say, due to an emergency shutdown, could operate independently. To achieve this, according to the expert, small and medium-sized businesses need to be given the opportunity to enter this market.
Author: Serhiy Vasilevich
