NEC Ukrenergo is working on a project to create its own research and development (R&D) office and expects to present its own vision of the office’s activities and tasks by the end of 2020.
“Ukrenergo has a consultation project with RTE International, and one of the cases of this project is to support us in creating R&D office of Ukrenergo. Now we are working on writing a roadmap, developing a structure, creating human resources, and formulating office’s tasks. I think that we will be able to present some specific developments by the end of the year,” Head of Strategic Planning and Analysis Division of NEC Ukrenergo Natalia Slobodian said during an online meeting at Energy Club on Thursday, April 30.
She said that R&D office will focus on solving the main problems in the energy system, optimizing the work taking into account changes in the economy, and quickly responding to challenges like those created now due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
“Ukrenergo has rather ambitious plans to follow national and global trends in creating leading and innovational products,” Slobodian said.
In her opinion, the benefits of state-owned companies from the creation of R&D offices are obvious, as concern for innovation increases the financial and investment attractiveness of enterprises, allows them to create highly intelligent jobs, and also makes the enterprises attractive to young professionals.
She also said that there is an opportunity to involve grant support for the work of such offices, and additional financial resources are not required for the commercialization of the products they create.
“There is no need to spend money on the commercialization of all the products that R&D offices make. They immediately test the products in market conditions and at once bring them to the market, creating demand in this way,” Slobodian said.
Ultimately, in her opinion, all efforts to introduce innovative technologies are aimed at improving the quality of customer service and providing them with additional opportunities. “The beneficial owner is a consumer by 100%. He gets a stable energy supply, cheap electricity and the opportunity to get market benefits via innovation,” Slobodian said.
National energy company Ukrenergo during procurement of goods, labor and services in 2019 saved 15% (UAH 219 million) of their expected cost, the company’s press service has reported. According to the company, the total volume of more than 5,000 procurement tenders last year was UAH 1.25 billion. The share of construction, reconstruction, repair and design services was 27% (UAH 342.9 million), economic goods – 21% (UAH 263 million) and basic equipment – 20% (UAH 243.2 million).
“Since 2016, we have reviewed almost all estimates and project decisions, thanks to which we have received two-digit figure savings. However, such a high indicator is positive only at the initial stages of the procurement system reform, when the expected prices are too high. Today, we have switched to careful procurement planning, when the savings depends only on competition at the auction,” Head of Ukrenergo Vsevolod Kovalchuk said.
National energy company Ukrenergo during procurement of goods, labor and services in 2019 saved 15% (UAH 219 million) of their expected cost, the company’s press service has reported. According to the company, the total volume of more than 5,000 procurement tenders last year was UAH 1.25 billion. The share of construction, reconstruction, repair and design services was 27% (UAH 342.9 million), economic goods – 21% (UAH 263 million) and basic equipment – 20% (UAH 243.2 million).
“Since 2016, we have reviewed almost all estimates and project decisions, thanks to which we have received two-digit figure savings. However, such a high indicator is positive only at the initial stages of the procurement system reform, when the expected prices are too high. Today, we have switched to careful procurement planning, when the savings depends only on competition at the auction,” Head of Ukrenergo Vsevolod Kovalchuk said.
National Energy Company Ukrenergo on January 7, 2020 due to abnormally warm temperatures for this period of the year restricted loading generation of six large wind farms by 384 MW and eight solar power plants (SPP) by 545 MW in the period from 12:09 through 13:00, the company’s press service has reported.
Ukrenergo said that on that day, the average daily air temperature was -2.4°С, which is 4°С higher than the one on January 7 last year. Accordingly, consumption on January 7, 2020, decreased by 47.6 million kWh or 10.6% compared to the same period of the previous year (394 million kWh versus 441 million kWh).
Prior to this, all applications of balancing market players were used, electricity imports to the Integrated Power System (IPS) of Ukraine from Belarus and the Russian Federation were limited to zero, and the thermal power plants (TPP) generation was also limited by 1,350 MW.
Besides, at the moment of a sharp leap in the renewable energy generation from 12:09 to 13:00, there has already been no possibility to switch to the pumping mode the hydroelectric generators of pumped storage power plants (PSPP) since at that moment their reservoirs have already been filled.
At the same time, it is worth noting that due to the short-term nature of the balance deviations nuclear power plants (NPP) loading was not restricted.
“Therefore, in order to balance the power system and ensure its operational safety, NPC Ukrenergo dispatchers had to restrict the loading of powerful wind farms and SPPs,” the company said.
After that, from 13:00 to 13:46, all wind farms and SPP generation restrictions were rescinded.
GENERATION, LOADING, SOLAR POWER PLANTS', UKRENERGO, WIND FARMS
National Energy Company Ukrenergo with continued low demand on electricity in the unified power transmission system of Ukraine restricts imports of electricity as much as possible, Ukrenergo Head Vsevolod Kovalchuk has said.
“In the unified power transmission system, we have a situation of reduced demand: due to weather and a low level of industrial production. Therefore, we almost completely limit the opportunities for importers by making adjustments to schedules: during night hours is zero imports and for daylight hours a small amount of imports,” he said at a meeting of the national energy regulator on Tuesday.
The head of Ukrenergo also said that, given the current situation, it is difficult to predict the likelihood of return of large volumes of electric energy imports to the unified power transmission system before the end of December.
“Until the end of December, it is very difficult to predict whether there will be significant volumes of imports that we observed in the first half of October,” Kovalchuk said.
According to Interfax-Ukraine, imports from Belarus, after its termination on December 2, resumed in small volumes on December 7. In the last two days it has been 350 MW, excluding the period from midnight to 8 am, when it is zero.
Imports from Russia, which stopped on December 5, are still completely absent.
Ukrenergo and the German energy agency DENA will analyze the technical and regulatory problems associated with the integration of fast growing capacities of renewable energy sources and will develop necessary recommendations. According to a press release from Ukrenergo, the main instruments for effective integration are systems for accurate forecasting of generation from renewable energy sources, a developed market for auxiliary services and interconnectors.
Ukrenergo notes that at present the united energy system of Ukraine can accept 4.75 GW of renewable energy capacities without negative consequences, while by the end of 2019 this figure will amount to 3.965 GW.
“A further increase in the share of renewable energy generation without the urgent legislative settlement of the issue of their work in the energy market and their controlled construction pose risks of the system imbalance. And first of all, the problem lies in a lack of responsibility of “green” generation for imbalances, which, in turn, does not stimulate manufacturers to accurate forecasting of production,” the company said.
The project “Transformation of the Energy System to Optimize the Integration of Renewable Energy in Ukraine” is funded by a grant from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and will last until March 2020.
