Regarding the problems of the heating season 2020/2021 and how DTEK Energy is going through it
This was announced by Ildar Saleev, CEO of DTEK Energy, during a discussion at the Energy Club regarding the results of the heating season (autumn and winter season) 2020 \ 2021.
Coal stock to ensure operation of the TPPs
As a reliable and responsible company, DTEK Energy always gets ready for autumn and winter season in advance: we produce coal, plan for the stocks and carry out the necessary overhaul campaigns. Although every year it becomes increasingly more difficult.
Before the start of the heating season, there were 2.1 mln tons of coal at out TPP warehouses, which is 1 million tons more than the standard approved by the Ministry of Energy and more than the previous year stocks. And these coal stocks were enough to go through autumn and winter season 2020/2021 within our forecast balance.
“We observed how we were going through the autumn and winter season (AWS) and felt comfortable both in terms of the balance and in terms of the coal stocks. Because this figure was higher than the required minimum in terms of the resolution by the Ministry of Energy. This figure is 1 mln tons more coal than we had available at the warehouses at the beginning of AWS a year and two years ago,” stressed Ildar Saleev.
The problem with coal arose in Q4, when generation facilities had to compensate for nuclear units that did not come out of the overhauls on time. The greatest load fell on December 2020, when TPPs generated 50% more electricity than they were supposed to. Of course, the TPPs burned more coal as well, by almost 1 mln tons as compared to what was by the forecast balance and more than during the same period of the previous year. This was the key reason for a considerable reduction in coal stocks at the TPPs in January 2021.
“When we saw that the energy system demand for thermal generation was growing and it significantly exceeded the forecast balance, we began to look for all possible ways to provide the TPPs with fuel. That included, we began to import coal from Kazakhstan and Poland. We did it over a month, which is extremely difficult in such a short time In December, the scope of our imports increased by 52 ths. tons, in January — by 108 ths. tons. DTEK is the only company that has started importing coal. At the same time, our mines continued to operate at their full capacity to ensure smooth operation of the TPPs. When we realized that our capacity was not enough to balance the energy system, we began to supply coal to Centerenergo. From November through January, 457,000 tons were shipped to Centerenergo,” Ildar Saleev said.
From the beginning of autumn and winter season, TPPs have received 4.5 million tons of coal for uninterrupted operation.
TPP failure rate and contribution to stable operation of the energy system.
“The failure issue is the one we had to solve since as late as March 2020. This is when we would normally start scheduled overhauls and prepare the power generating units for autumn and winter season. We did not have such an opportunity. The stations were idling and did not have the funds to complete the overhaul program. When a financial opportunity became available at the end of the year there to complete scheduled overhauls, we were not allowed to perform them due to excessive load and demand for equipment by the energy system. We have postponed all scheduled overhauls from November 2020 to be performed in 2021 already,” said DTEK Energy’s CEO.
During this heating season, electricity for UES of Ukraine was generated by all available equipment of DTEK Energy’s TPPs. 26 to 28 power generating units worked on a permanent basis, while only just 17 to 18 of them were in operation during the previous autumn and winter season. If earlier current energy sector overhauls could be done when the equipment was backed up, then since December 2020 there was not a single unit backed up. Increased workload and unavailability of scheduled overhauls — all these have materially affected the equipment failure rate.
Ildar Saleev denied accusations of intentionally removing power generating units for emergency overhauls: “When the load on thermal generation reduced and many spare power generating units came about, we were able to carry out both current and medium-complexity overhauls. That is why the failure rate has sharply dropped. There were no deliberate removals of the power generating units for emergency overhauls during this heating season. We removed the power generating units for emergency overhauls instead of the planned ones, but provided extra capacities at the same time. Together with Ukrenergo’s professionals, we found a solution that enabled Luhansk TPP to operate within UES of Ukraine by engaging three of its power generating units. Nobody has done that before.”
The failures issue is rooted in the imbalances and uncontrollability, featured by the energy market. And first of all it is necessary to resolve the issue of circular multiplication-dollar debts that all generation sectors have.
“From September 2020 till February 2021, Ukrenergo’s debt before DTEK Energy’s TPPs for their work on the balancing market amounts to UAH 2.4 bln. This is the cost of our annual overhauls campaign. But this is not just an issue of existing exposure between us and Ukrenergo. Debt exposure issues need to be addressed within all generation sectors. If the energy system requires the generation to have efficient power generating units during the high demand period, then it is also necessary to address the issue of maintaining the capacity back-up and duly paying for that. This would allow the generation sector to technically support these power generating units throughout the year to seamlessly work at seasonal consumption peaks,” summarized Ildar Saleev.