In Chernihiv, 38 municipal boiler houses were damaged by the bombing. This was reported by Oleksiy Shcherbyna, Chairman of the Board of JSC OTKE, to Pryamyy TV channel.
«We have about 40 boiler houses in Chernihiv. Even when the active phase of hostilities began, there was hardly a single boiler house that did not suffer some damage. Most of the boiler houses had their windows and doors damaged by blast waves, but the staff continued to work courageously and heroically. They restarted the boilers because after the explosions, the automation was triggered and the boiler house was shut down,« said Oleksiy Shcherbyna, Chairman of the Board of JSC OTKE.
Last year, for more than a month, residents of Chernihiv endured round-the-clock bombardment, lack of electricity, heat and water while the city was surrounded by Russian troops. Despite this, critical infrastructure continued to operate.
A boiler house in one of Chernihiv's districts was completely destroyed by Russians. 9 residential buildings and more than 1060 residents were left without heating.
«In early April, when the enemy hordes withdrew from our city, the question arose of returning to life and understanding how we will go through the next heating season, what to do, and how to restore it. And we have already begun miscalculating, describing and recording the damage caused by the shelling,» recalls Oleksiy Shcherbyna.
The process of finding help was complicated, and the construction of a new boiler house was essential. In the end, USAID helped with the reconstruction, which also involved the International Committee of the Red Cross.
«A memorandum was signed, according to which the Red Cross paid for the supply of a modular boiler house. However, it was very difficult to find a supplier of such a boiler in April-May last year. Many businesses in Ukraine had stopped working, and the conditions were very strict: no prepayment, the equipment had to be delivered and only then 100 percent payment,» says Irina Shtypa, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Oblteplocomunenergo.
In two months, a new modular boiler house built by KOLVI, a national manufacturer, was installed in the Siverskyi district of Chernihiv.
«Already in October 2022, just before the start of the heating season, we put this boiler house into operation, and thank God, our consumers lived through the heating season with heat and everything was fine,» says Iryna Shtypa.
The capacity of each boiler is 850 kW, and the boiler house operates autonomously and economically compared to the old Soviet one.
Andriy Shcherbak, Head of the Boiler House Maintenance Service in Chernihiv, says that the boiler house was assembled at the KOLVI plant and delivered in two parts.
«It was assembled here, put together from two parts into one. And then there were installation works to connect the equipment, and then we started operating it. The modular boiler house has two boilers and expansion tanks, chemical preparation of the coolant to feed the system, so that the water is softened and prevents the boiler pipes and heating network from wearing out. There is a valve that automatically maintains the right temperature of the heat carrier for the population,» said Andriy Shcherbak.
The boiler house worked through the last heating season without any problems and is ready to work this year.
«We have received the most modern equipment, a state-of-the-art boiler house that operates in an automatic mode, saving fuel resources. The staff is satisfied, and we hope that when this is all over, we will continue to cooperate with the company in terms of reconstruction and replacement of our old boilers with the equipment of the KOLVI Group,» says Oleksiy Shcherbyna.
Source: TSN
