In Slavutych, in the Kyiv region, a biothermal power plant with a capacity of about 700 kW will be built to provide critical infrastructure for €6 million.
This was stated by the mayor of the city Yuriy Fomichev, adding that the station will be built with a grant from the international organization NEFCO, reports Promyslovy Portal.
"We are introducing a new project that will start already this year, it is the construction of a bio-thermal power plant using local fuel, which will provide electricity to our entire critical infrastructure, in fact, from what we have under our feet, for example, wood," said Fomichev.
He noted that the implementation of the project is planned for 18 months. However, it will probably take a little longer due to logistical difficulties. BioTES is planned to be launched before the heating season of 2024-2025.
Fomichev emphasized the importance of implementing the electricity generation project. After all, during difficult situations in the power system, the city was without electricity for six days.
"We do not aim to add alternative heat generation. The key is electricity for critical infrastructure from local fuels. Plus, this biothermal power plant will give off heat in the summer for hot water. We have enough thermal capacities even on biomass," he explained.
It is noted that the available alternative heat production capacities can already replace more than 50% of gas in the centralized system, but in the winter of 2022-2023 this figure was approximately 25%.
"There are rules of the game that do not satisfy investors very much. Today, alternative generation must sell its thermal energy 10% cheaper than gas. So what do we encourage? Gas? The philosophy itself is a bit distorted. We say – let's substitute gas, but we set the rules of the game when substitution is cheaper. It shouldn't be like that," said Fomichev.
According to him, the local government is conducting active negotiations with the Ministry of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure in order to make the rules of the game on the market of alternative sources attractive to investors. In the community, some local facilities were completely converted to alternative energy, and in the centralized network they reached 25%. However, the city can increase this figure to 100%.
"We can develop all types of RES generation here, there are hydrogen initiatives. These are also small modular reactors, hazardous waste processing," he added.
Earleir, EcoPolitic wrote, that in June 2022, Slavutych, in the Kyiv region, provided 40% of heating needs and hot water thanks to a solid-fuel biomass boiler house.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, in Zhytomyr, half of the capacity of one of the 40 MW bio-thermal power plants, which was supposed to run entirely on wood chips, will be transferred to fuel from RDF waste from a local waste processing plant.
