Private cogeneration plants can reduce heat production costs in Ukraine — Sukhomlyn

The development of private cogeneration plants can significantly reduce the costs of Ukrainian communities for heat production and simultaneously provide them with additional sources of electricity. According to the former head of the State Agency for Restoration, Serhiy Sukhomlyn, in some cases heat from private producers can cost several times less than traditional municipal generation.

He said this in an interview with "Ukrainska Pravda," published on October 12.

According to Sukhomlyn, the economically justified cost of heat production in Ukrainian communities is approximately 3-3.5 thousand UAH per gigacalorie. At the same time, private cogeneration units can sell thermal energy for about 1 thousand UAH/Gcal.

According to the presented comparison, the difference can reach approximately 3-3.5 times. However, these figures are estimates by the former official, not universal tariffs for all Ukrainian cities.

Sukhomlyn explained that the economic attractiveness of cogeneration is associated with the simultaneous production of two types of energy - electricity and heat.

For example, a gas-piston unit with a capacity of 4 MW of electrical energy can simultaneously produce approximately the same thermal capacity. If the community purchases the produced heat for the centralized heating system, the investor receives additional income, which shortens the payback period of the project.

This approach simultaneously solves two tasks: reduces heating costs and creates backup electricity generation. This is especially important for Ukrainian cities preparing for possible prolonged outages as a result of Russian attacks.

Among the communities that have already created conditions for attracting private investors into cogeneration, Sukhomlyn named Khmelnytskyi, Vinnytsia, Chernivtsi and Zhytomyr. According to him, in these cities private investors have built dozens of megawatts of new generating capacities.

The former head of the Recovery Agency believes that the interest of local authorities plays a decisive role in the development of such projects. For investors it is important to have the opportunity not only to produce electricity, but also to guarantee the sale of heat to local heat supply companies.

At the same time, the lower sale price of heat by the producer does not automatically mean a reduction in tariffs for the population in the same proportion. The final cost of heating is also affected by transportation, network losses, the cost structure of municipal enterprises and current tariff regulation.

Sukhomlyn did not provide detailed calculations for each of the mentioned cities, so the price indicators presented by him require verification using examples of specific contracts with private producers.