Energy Potential of Distributed Generation at Powerful Boiler Houses of Ukraine in Conditions of Military Aggression

The Integrated Power System of Ukraine (IPS) is purposefully destroyed by the russian aggressor and suffers significant damage, which has caused long-term emergency interruptions in the power supply of critical infrastructure facilities, enterprises and the population. One of the ways to increase the stability of the IPS of Ukraine is to increase the share of distributed generation in its composition. The conceptual idea of solving this problem is the transformation of existing critical infrastructure objects from electricity consumers into electricity producers/suppliers who will provide their own electricity needs and the needs of other electricity consumers. Boiler houses of centralized heat supply systems (DHS) of Ukrainian cities with their existing electric power and fuel infrastructure can become such objects in wartime conditions. The author proposes the widespread introduction of energy-efficient cogeneration gas-piston units (CGPUs) at boiler houses of the DHS. The container-type CGPU is a typical mass-produced equipment that is manufactured in Ukraine and abroad and has a short implementation period (up to 5 days from the date of delivery to the industrial site of the boiler house). The high maneuverability of the CGPUs allows for an increase the flexibility of the IPS of Ukraine. The article presents the main technical and economic indicators of distributed generation with the use of CGPU at existing boiler houses for further national planning of the development of distributed generation during the martial law and post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. The application of CGPU at boiler houses of the DHS of Ukrainian cities has the potential to provide additional distributed generation with a total capacity of up to 2365.7 MW, in particular, 1224.8 MW at 158 boiler houses with a thermal capacity of 100 Gcal/h and more (612 CGPUs with an average unit electric power of 2.0 MW each); 561.9 MW at 409 boiler houses from 20 to 100 Gcal/h (803 CGPUs of 0.7 MW each); 561.9 MW in 2101 boiler houses from 3 to 20 Gcal/h (4136 CGPUs of 0.14 MW each). Under the conditions of 8 hours a day of use of the installed capacity of CGPUs, 567.8 thousand MWh of electricity will be produced every month at the boiler houses of the DHS (taking into account the consumption of the boiler houses for their own needs and release to the network to other consumers) and 136–142 million cubic meters of natural gas will be consumed. According to the average specific cost of modular CGPU (turnkey supply) from 800 to 950 USD/kW of installed electric capacity, capital costs for implementing the CGPUs with a total capacity of 2,365.7 MW will amount to USD 1.89–2.25 billion. Bibl. 31, Fig. 3.