Application of the Co-generation Technology in the Ukraine: Peculiarities

 

V. Klimenko, Corresponding Member (NASU),  Head of Department, Institute of Engineering Thermophysics (NASU), Ukraine.

 

In the last quarter of the 20th century in the heating and power engineering sector of all industrially developed countries, the problems of the fuel efficiency and reduction in harmful pollution of the environment have become to be the most important issues. One of the most effective ways of solving these problems is based on the usage of the co-generation technologies for production of heat and electric power energy.

The co-generation problems of the Ukraine and ways of solving them are similar to those in the Western countries, such as Denmark. The similarities can be found in the fields of the co-generation application, technological processes and methods of their implementation. However, there are also specific particularities associated with development of co-generation in the Ukraine. First of all, the implementation of co-generation technologies is initiated under the conditions of strong deficit of domestic fuel resources accompanied with the crisis of power engineering and economy in general. Secondly, heat and power generative enterprises in the Ukraine are owned by the state. Finally, Ukraine does not have legislature that encourage the development of technologies, which save the energy, appropriate laws that regulate production and consumption of energy by private firms. All these factors make the implementation of co-generation technologies in the power engineering much more difficult in the Ukraine.

Among the peculiarities of heat and power engineering of the Ukraine that contribute to the development of co-generation are: unique centralization of the municipal heat supply system, great number of heat generative technologies in industry and one of the most powerful in the world gas transporting system by means of gas-turbine installations.

Considering the above-mentioned peculiarities, there have been proposed and elaborated the principles of the co-generation development in Ukraine, potential opportunities of implementation of the co-generation technologies in heat supply, in industry and in gas transportation. The basic schemes of the co-generation technologies have been worked out for different fields of heat and power engineering, and the basic provisions of the concept of co-generation development in the Ukraine have been formulated.

One of the main peculiarities of the co-generation development in the Ukraine consists in construction of co-generation schemes on the basis of unification of existing heat generation units (coppers, ovens, etc.) with the power generative units. The implementation of this method actually predetermines the usage of the schemes with incineration of fuel with purpose of ensuring the nominal characteristics of the basic power generative technologies and obtaining the maximum effect of the co-generation process.

For certain fields of heat and power engineering, there have been developed the co-generation technologies on the basis of usage of gas-plunger engines, gas-turbine engines and steam and gas units, there have been determined the schemes of their most efficient application.

The potential of implementation of the co-generation power-generative technologies in Ukraine is proportional to the capacity of the operating thermal power plants. Due to rather low capital investments, short terms of re-compensation and easy building, the usage of co-generation can be the great step to solving the energy problems in the Ukraine.