Pavlohrad is located in the eastern part of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, on the floodplain terraces of rivers Samara and its channels. The population in the city is about 110,000 in an area of nearly 60 km2. The city retains its strong industrial capacity since the Soviet Union, characterised by high levels of mining industry, chemical industry, metallurgy, manufacture of fabricated metal products and machinery.
The approximate share of district heating service in the city is 35% and it is provided by the Municipal Enterprise “PavlohradTeploenerho”. The company operates 19 boiler houses of total installed heat production capacity 371 Gcal/h and provide district heating to 560 houses.
Pavlohrad Demonstration Project – overview
The proposed project involved the connection of a hospital to a larger district heating system, supplemented with the installation of solar panels for the preparation of domestic hot water, the disconnection of a remotely located residential area with the installation of a local biomass boiler, and the use of gas for peak and reserve purposes. It also included the partial replacement of the piping network, which dramatically reduced the use of fossil fuels in the system.
The proposed project was interesting from a demonstration point of view as it included the application of solar energy technology and a complete renewal of the heat supply system. Thereby, it could have been used as a demonstration of how district heating can be renewed, avoiding lock-in effects in local heating solutions based on fossil fuels. The proposed project would have decreased the use of natural gas by using renewable energy and taking the most inefficient gas boilers out of operation, but also through decreased losses in the district heating network by the modern pre-insulated piping, clearly demonstrating the benefits of downsizing dimensions.
Pavlohrad Demonstration Project – details
The project area was situated in the eastern part of Pavlohrad city and included heated area of two boiler houses, one is the boiler house of “Fifth Micro-district” and the other was the boiler house of the “Central City Hospital No 4”. These networks supply district heating to 47 customers and the modernisation of the two networks affects more than 6,200 people who would benefit from the improvements in their district heating system.
Specifics of the Pavlohrad Project included:
- Disconnection of the buildings from the current district heating system.
- Removal of the existing pipeline from boiler house no. 5 to the buildings
- Installation of a new pellet boiler (1×600 kW) and a new gas boiler (1×1,000 kW) in a container solution for the buildings
- Connection of the hospital boiler house to the district heating system.
- Installation of a solar energy solution on the hospital roof combined with a backup boiler.
- Network replacement within the project area – approx. 700m.
- Individual Heat Substation – Introduction of 1 modern HIS in the 9-storey building
The proposed investment was EUR 565,000 with a simple payback time of 8 years. The proposed financing plan was as follows:
- Total loan – EUR 240,000 (42.5%)
- Total grant – EUR 240,000 (42.5%)
- Total Pavlohrad local contribution – EUR 85,000 (15%)
Once implemented, the project was expected to benefit the local community by:
- Saving 1,760 MWh heat per year
- Saving 400,000 m³ gas per year
- Saving 320 m³ water per year
- Saving 1,020 tonnes CO2 per year
Current status
The project was cancelled in 2020, due to changed priorities for development of the district heating system in the city.
Photo credit: Nataliya Shestakova