B.V. Savenko

applicant

Institute of Agroecology and Environmental Management of NAAS

 

PROSPECTS AND FACTORS OF renewable POWER ENGINEERING DEVELOPMENT in UKRAINE

 

Successful development of the national economy is formed by several factors, one of which is the stable functioning the energy industry. Reducing in the energy dependence level of Ukraine is a gradual process, the basis of which should be the development of certain renewable energy technologies. This confirms the experience of European countries where during 2000–2016 enterprises of wind and solar energy were competing with conventional energy technologies, significantly outpacing the rate of commissioning of new capacities, and reduction in generating facilities took place in nuclear power and energy based on coal and refined petroleum products. In addition, the development of renewable energy is one of the main areas of international policy on climate change. Should be noted that electric power industry, being the biggest polluter of the environment makes a significant contribution to its overall environmental degradation. In this context, calcination of the energy sector through the development of renewable energy is one of the most promising ways to improve the environmental situation in the country. That is, currently objectively there are several factors that contribute to the development of renewable energy in our country.

In particular, major challenges of the domestic fuel and energy complex promote the establishment of renewable energy market in Ukraine, because the sharp price increases in the retail electricity market would be the main catalyst for the development of alternative energy sources. Thus, currently retail rates for electricity consumers, which are introduced into force on 1st of February, 2017 (according to the NKREU  decision on 23.01.2017 ¹ 51), will amount up to 204.86 kopeck/KWh. A similar situation encourages consumers of low and average power to full or partial rejection from the centralized power supply in favor of its own generating facilities. Demand for brick and mortar generation begins to spontaneously grow in Ukraine. According to certain estimation, the energy of its own output costs in 1,5-2,5 times cheaper to the purchased one because it does not have to pay for transportation, guaranteed reserve of capacity for each consumer, pay for losses in networks etc. Own generation also helps to avoid two hidden "taxes" – cross-subsidies and connection fees to the networks. And since technologies of renewable energy by their nature have brick and mortar, decentralized character, then individual energy projects based on alternative energy sources begin to appear spontaneously.

A considerable part of technological equipment used in power engineering enterprises of Ukraine, has exhausted and needs replacing. This primarily concerns thermal (lifetime of more than 70% of technological equipment exceeds the scheduled) and nuclear power (13 of 15 power units require operations on the extension of the exploitation or decommissioning). Along with, the economy of Ukraine is energy-dependent, importing significant volumes of energy resources from abroad.

In addition, the International Renewable Energy Agency IRENA has developed a final report "Roadmap for renewable energy in Ukraine till 2030 REMAP-2030" (allows to analyze the status and prospects for the development of renewable energy, taking into account current in Ukraine legislation on incentives and preferences in this area), according to which in 2030 the share of renewable energy in the final energy consumption of the country could amount to at least 21%. This target corresponds to the calculations that are conducted by specialists of State Energy Efficiency, and representatives of the expert community [1]. In particular, the Agency IRENA experts predict that 72% of energy from renewable sources will be used for heat production, 20% – for generating electricity, 8% – in the transport sector. The development of bioenergy will be the most promising area of renewable energy.

In addition, the Agency IRENA experts have noted that Ukraine has sufficient capacity of renewable energy to achieve the objectives defined in the road map REMAP – 2030. Therefore, our country has a great technically feasible potential for production of energy resources from renewable energy sources and alternative fuels, which is more than 98,0 million tce per year (Table. 1).

Table 1

Technically feasible potential for production of energy resources from renewable energy sources and alternative fuels

Areas of the DEP development

Annual technically achievable energy potential, million tce

Windpower Engineering

28,0

Solar energy, incl .:

6,0

- electric

2,0

- thermal

4,0

Minor hydropower engineering

3,0

Bioenergy, incl .:

31,0

- electric

10,3

- thermal

20,7

Geothermal thermal energy

12,0

The energy of the environment (heat pumps)

18,0

The total amount of substitution of traditional fuel and energy resources

98,0

Source: [1].

 

Thus, Ukraine has all the necessary set of resources, factors and prospects for effective development of the renewable energy market that allows to develop alternative sources of energy in any direction. Consideration and thorough investigation of these factors and possible prospects of renewable energy development will enable the implementation of a number of conceptual foundations, including the: solving the challenges of energy, economic, social and political tensions in the country; balancing the fuel and energy balance of the country; ensuring qualitative state of the environment; reducing the probability of environmental disasters; creation of new jobs; stimulation of secondary effects due to the development of other industries, the creation of intellectual property objects, etc.

References:

1. Information on the production of alternative fuels and energy from renewable energy sources. Current state. – State Agency for Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving of Ukraine. [Electronic resource]. – Access mode: http://saee.gov.ua/uk/activity/