There are 4 months left before the start of the heating season, which should be used to the maximum, taking into account the challenges.
Ukraine has lost almost all of the electricity generated by thermal power plants. In addition to the electricity shortage, consumers are left without heat, which they also received from industrial giants. This led to the emergence of the concept of decentralization of the energy sector, when instead of building and reconstructing giant thermal power plants, the focus should be shifted to installing small generation facilities close to the consumer. In the heat supply sector, small modular boiler houses running on different types of fuel and capable of heating entire neighborhoods even in the event of a local power outage are becoming popular.
“CHPP-3 and CHPP-4 were repeatedly damaged. About 50 boiler houses, the same number of central heating stations, ten individual heating stations and three pumping stations were damaged. More than 20 kilometers of heating networks, administrative buildings and other facilities were destroyed. According to our estimates, the enterprises have suffered losses of UAH 2.5 billion,” commented Ivan Kuznetsov, Director of the Department for City Life Support of Kharkiv City Council, in a commentary to Economic truth.
Since centralization of the energy and heat supply systems is a significant problem for Ukraine, Kharkiv residents have found a way out in decentralization. By the end of the year, the city plans to install more than three dozen modular boiler houses. Half of this number had already been installed by last winter.
Director of CO Kolvi Oleksandr Kroshka on the air of Novosti.LIVE said., If we stop preparing for winter now, the thermal generation system will be significantly destroyed when the zero temperature arrives, and the state will suffer losses tens or even hundreds of times higher than it is now.
“If the cost of one generating unit is one million hryvnias, the losses from not supplying heat will amount to billions. That is, if we have already learned to survive without power generation, found ways to replace it and save it, then interruptions in heat supply will bring huge losses. This issue is very critical and we have until the end of October at the latest,” he said.
Mr. Kroshka noted that Ukraine had begun the process of decentralizing heat supply by developing small boiler houses even before the full-scale invasion.
“In Kharkiv, two thermal power plants were destroyed, which means the loss of almost 100 gigawatts of heat. And there we have a practice where the lost heat generation is “broken down” into several dozen small mobile boiler houses that can replace each other if necessary. There are already solutions that protect such boiler houses from enemy UAVs and missiles, and there are also solutions that provide significant savings - the placement of such boiler houses on heating mains closer to the consumer,” he explained.
Currently, there are 4 months left before the start of the heating season, which should be used to the maximum, taking into account the challenges. Kharkiv's experience in this area is unique and can be useful for other cities to follow.
Source: UNIAN
