In December, a new CHP plant that will work on biomass is to be commissioned in Zhytomyr. The equipment has been assembled; the procedures needed to start operational mode of the system are being carried out. And the technological process of generating energy will be unparalleled in Ukraine.
‘At the moment, the electronic system is being configured; the system is being filled with technological carriers – thermal oil, silicone, liquid. Then come system check, drying of the boiler, start of the heat-exchanging unit, cold and hot run of the turbine… This will take two or three months… We plan to fully commission the plant in December’, Director of the Public Utility Zhytomyrteplokomuneherho (Zhytomyr district heating company) Dmytro Rogozhyn says.
The ORC thermodynamic plant will generate heat and electricity at the same time. Its capacity is 1.2 MW of electric power and 7.1 MW of thermal power. The CHP plant is able to generate enough thermal power for an area of 60,000 square metres. Moreover, the 24-hour cycle plant will provide hot water on a 24-hour basis in Malikova, Myru Prospekt, and Vilskyi Shliakh streets.
‘The fuel is provided to the combustion chamber, which has three circuits – drying, secondary combustion and burning out. The gas, which is heated up to 1,000 degrees, is delivered to the oil boiler. It heats thermal oil to 340 degrees, and this thermal oil transits to the air heater… The silicon oil turns into steam, makes its way to the turbine, spins the turbine and moves to the steam-releasing heat exchanger. Here, it is cooled down; water is made; and 5 MW of thermal power are transferred to the boiler house. From the boiler house they move to consumers’, Petro Sergiichuk, the chief technical officer of the Public Utility Zhytomyrteplokomuneherho (Zhytomyr district heating company) says.
This is the first congeneration plant in Ukraine with such a technological process of combined generation of thermal and electric power.
‘The plant will mainly work in automatic mode; only a small number of employees will maintain the system. Two operators will control the work of equipment. A loader will load fuel… There will be four shift, with two people each’, Petro Sergiichuk says. An Italian company will provide service maintenance. The staff will get two-week training provided by the Italian company.
Fuel will be supplied automatically via the movable floor. Wood chips will be stored in the warehouse in the amount enough for three days of plant operation.
The concept of the new CHP is ‘green’ technology, reduction of CO2 emissions (emissions will be reduced to 12,650 tons per year), and energy saving (reduction of electricity consumption to 8,050 MW/h per year). The consumption of natural gas in the city will also be reduced to 6,326,854 nm3 per year.
Representatives of the Public Utility note that they have received positive findings from the environmental inspectorate regarding the impact on the environment. Citizens of Zhytomyr and employees of the CHP will be able to monitor the amount of atmospheric emissions in real-time mode: a monitor will be installed in the territory of the CHP to hourly show data on atmospheric emissions.
In addition, the Public Utility will be able to receive additional income and curb the increase of tariffs, because the city will be less dependent on rising prices for energy resources.
Such an important facility for the city was constructed at the expense of the Government of the Swiss Confederation and co-financed from the local budget. The cost is about UAH 300 million, of which almost UAH 100 million is the community budget.