Ukrainian energy industry includes power generating enterprises of all possible types - thermal power plants, hydroelectric power plants, nuclear power plants. The stability of the first type of work is strongly influenced by the current economic situation, the deterioration of which is due to the reduction in coal supplies from Donbass.
Definition of TPP
So, a TPP is a power plant, the power units of which first convert the chemical energy of the burned hydrocarbon fuel (coal, gas, fuel oil) into the thermal energy of water vapor, then into the mechanical energy of the rotors of drive turbines and synchronous generators, and, finally, into electrical energy supplied through the stator windings of generators to the electrical network.
TPPs can be both large power plants with a capacity of several thousand MW, and relatively small facilities with a capacity of several hundred kW to several MW.
Since their work is always accompanied by the combustion of hydrocarbon fuel with the release of a large amount of flue gases into the atmosphere, thermal power plants are a serious factor in environmental pollution. Therefore, the work of these enterprises is always under close attention as public services.environmental control and the public.
CHP classification
It is carried out according to the principle of the design of their power units. There are several types of them.
1. Boiler-turbine thermal power plants are power plants with an obligatory stage of steam production. Their power units include steam boilers and steam turbines. Among them are:
• Condensing ES (CES). In the Soviet period, they were called state district power plants (GRES). They only produce electricity.
• Combined heat and power plants (CHP). These enterprises, unlike IES, in addition to generating electricity, also have an additional function of producing steam and hot water for heating needs.
2. Gas turbine power plants. Their power units do not have steam boilers, and drive gas turbines are rotated by the energy of hot flue gases generated during the combustion of fuel (natural gas, diesel fuel).
3. Combined-cycle thermal power plants are similar to combined heat and power plants, in which steam is produced by the residual heat of flue gases removed from gas turbines.
4. Diesel power plants.
5. Combined ES.
General characteristics of Ukraine's energy sector
which has the largest thermal power plant - Zaporozhye. The Uglegorskaya TPP has the same capacity, but it is located near the lineconfrontation in the Donbass and works part-time.
The United Energy System (IPS) has been created in Ukraine, which includes fourteen thermal power plants, four nuclear power plants, seven hydroelectric power plants, three pumped storage power plants, as well as ninety-seven thermal power plants, small hydroelectric power plants, wind farms, solar power plants, etc. The installed capacity of the UES of Ukraine is 53.78 million kW. In 2012, they generated 198.119 billion kWh of electricity.
At the same time, nuclear power plants provide stable power to the grid regardless of the time of day, and Ukrainian TPPs, along with its hydroelectric power plants, operating with variable power, cover daily peak loads.
Major energy generating companies
Centralized generation of electricity in the UES of Ukraine is carried out by ES, which are part of seven power generating enterprises. Of these, four companies with a total installed capacity of 18.2 million kW - Kyivenergo, Dneproenergo, Zapadenergo, Vostokenergo - are part of the Donetsk Fuel Energy Company (DTEK), which through its holding System Capital Management controlled by oligarch Rinat Akhmetov.
Donbasenergo, a small company with an installed capacity of 2.855 million kW, is controlled by Energoinvest Holding from Donetsk. Finally, the two remaining companies are under state control. These are Centrenergo with an installed capacity of 7.575 million kW and NJSC Energoatom with an installed capacity of 14.140 million kW.
Problems in the operation of TPPs in Ukraine
The main problem isa significant reduction in the supply of coal from the Donbass, as well as the lack of funds for its purchase. Coal shortage is a common problem for all regions and power generating companies.
June has begun, and TPP warehouses are still half empty. In March and April, coal reserves at Ukrainian thermal power plants increased from 750 to 850 thousand tons. And by the beginning of the heating season, you need to accumulate at least 3 million tons, or even better - 4 million tons of coal.
If warehouses are filled just as slowly, no more than 1.3–1.5 million tons of coal will be accumulated by winter. With the same meager reserves, rolling blackouts had to be introduced last winter, and the country's UES did not collapse only thanks to Russian coal and electricity.
However, last winter was quite warm. If the cold weather gets worse and coal remains scarce, the problems will start much earlier and affect citizens and businesses (which still hold on) more significantly.
Already in the summer, thermal power plants are forced to work at partial capacity, so its deficit in the IPS reaches 3 million kW. According to last year's experience, already at the beginning of winter it can increase to 6 million kW, and then on condition that severe frosts do not rage.
Recent developments in the Ukrainian energy sector
At the end of May, there were two high-profile events related to the shutdown of the thermal power plant. Thus, the Donbasenergo company stopped the Slavyanskaya TPP, and the state-owned Centerenergo stopped the work of the Zmievskaya TPP in the Kharkiv region.
At the same time, at the stop of the Slavyanskaya TPP, its owneraccused the Ukrainian state, which refused to pay for the electricity supplied by the company. The problem has a clear political connotation, since one of Donbasenergo's thermal power plants, Starobeshevskaya, is located in the DPR. The total debt of the state-owned company Energorynok, which conducts mutual settlements with all energy generating and energy supply companies, to Donbasenergo today reaches about $72 million at the current rate.
Zmiivska TPP stopped its work solely due to the lack of coal, which is enough only for the operation of one power unit. But this is not economically viable. Therefore, the station hopes to accumulate coal for the operation of two or three power units.
