Chernivtsi is an oblast centre in Ukraine, located 425 km to the southwest from Kyiv. Chernivtsi has 263,000 inhabitants and is an important administrative, political and religious centre. The most developed industries in the city are the food industry, light industry, mechanical engineering and woodworking.
The heat supply of Chernivtsi city includes centralised and individual heating systems. District heating is provided to residential buildings, public and commercial facilities. There is no domestic hot water supply from the centralised system in the city. The municipal company “ChernivtsiTeploKomunEnergo” is the only district heat supplier and covers the whole area of the city. The company operates 86 boiler houses with a total installed heat generation capacity of 500 Gcal/h, as well as about 100 km of district heating networks.
Chernivtsi Demonstration Project – overview
The project involved interconnection of two micro-districts. It also involved the installation of a new pellet boiler at the existing boiler house. This made it possible to decommission the old boiler house. The existing gas boilers was serving as peak load boilers for the interconnected system.
The project was interesting from a demonstration point of view as it enabled efficiency improvements in generation, distribution and use of district heating in line with the Ukrainian Energy Strategy 2030.
The replacement of distribution pipelines, along with the installation of 17 IHSs at all the buildings connected to this district heating network, further reduced the use of fossil fuels and made it possible to operate the part of the district heating system as a fully demand-driven and modern system. The replacement of district heating pipelines reduced heat losses, water losses, and maintenance costs while improving the quality of heat delivery. The installation of a biofuel boiler dramatically reduced the use of natural gas.
Chernivtsi Demonstration Project – details
The project area comprised the two micro-districts which were supplied with heat from two separate boiler houses.
The number of people living in project areas supplied with district heating was approximately 5,500, thus modernisation affected a total of 4,500 people who benefited from the improvements in their district heating system.
Specifics of the Chernivtsi Project included:
- Installation of one biomass boiler (1×2.5MW)
- New network pipeline – 500m district heating pipes.
- Network replacement – approx. 1,150m of district heating pipes
- Individual Heat Substations – Introduction of 17 IHSs
- Close down of one boiler house
The proposed investment was EUR 939,457. The proposed financing plan was as follows:
- Total loan – EUR 424,457 (45%)
- Total grant – EUR 355,000 (38%)
- Total Chernivtsi local contribution – EUR 160,000 (17%)
The project benefited the local community by:
- Saving 1,090 MWh heat per year
- Saving 1,130,000 m³ gas per year
- Saving 760 m³ water per year
- Saving 2,400 tonnes CO2 per year
Current status
The project was successfully completed.
Photo credit: Klymenkoy