The USAID Energy Security Project (ESP), jointly with the Ministry of Communities, Territories, and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine (Ministry for Restoration), conducted a workshop for representatives of state, regional, and local authorities, and heat supply utilities concerning the biofuel-based small distributed generation.
The main purpose was to discuss the possibilities and ways of using biomass and fuel from waste, and the technologies and equipment needed to develop cogeneration projects in DH systems.
Michael Trainor, Chief of Party of the USAID Energy Security Project, in his welcome speech, noted that the share of renewable energy is 30% of the global energy production, while bioenergy is 9%, making it the fourth largest source of renewable energy to produce electricity. He added that Ukrainian companies also have experience in electricity generation from biomass and biogas. In 2023 about 100 plants with a total capacity of over 300 MW generated 13% of renewable energy in Ukraine, demonstrating the potential for developing this energy generation sector.
At present, in Ukraine, 23 bioenergy plants are capable of generating up to 150 MW of electricity hourly, including 3 biomass-fired thermal power plants (TPP), which are connected to district heating (DH) grids. These generating capacities can energize households and industry and could also be a part of microgrids, for instance, in the utility.
Andrii Vedmid, Deputy Director of the Public Utilities Department and Head of the Heat Supply Unit in the Ministry of Communities, Territories, and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine, emphasized that due to Russia’s military aggression, Ukraine suffered considerable destruction of energy generation facilities, in particular, the flexible ones. As a result, almost every day Ukrainian customers feel the electricity shortage. According to him, in the future, one can forecast a considerable demand for biofuel-fired cogeneration plants and the prospects of developing such a generation sector. The experience of Ukrainian companies in using biofuel-fired cogeneration, together with the assistance provided by USAD ESP, will help Ukraine develop in this direction, Andrii Vedmid added.
USAID ESP assists local communities and heat supply utilities by procurement and free-of-charge transfer of cogeneration plants and other required energy equipment to ensure sustainable heat- and energy supply to customers. In addition, it implements actions to raise awareness concerning the potential development of distributed generation, cogeneration, and ways of improving the efficiency and heat supply decarbonization in Ukraine.
During the workshop, the participants familiarized themselves with practical experience in implementing bioenergy projects at boiler houses and CHP in the European Union and Ukraine. They also discussed efficient biomass cogeneration, technological requirements, and recommendations for sustainable usage (Bernhard Hoissler, POLYTECHNIK Luft- und Feuerungstechnik GmbH (Austria), the potential of using the biofuel in cogeneration plants based on gasification technology (Kostiantyn Pianykh, PhD, Head of Alternative Fuel Technologies Unit, the Institute of Gas of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine), learned about the possibilities of combined generation of heat and electricity from wood (Jarno Haapakoski, the Executive Director, Volter Oy (Finland), and considered the practical experience of heat generating company in Zhytomyr in terms of operation of wood chips-fired CHP in the DH system of Zhytomyr (Petro Sergiychuk, Director of the Public Utility “Zhytomyrteplocommunenergo”).
The participants agreed to continue discussion on biofuels potential in district heating.