Number in format pdf(10234 kB)
V.G. Semenov, CEO"VNIPIenergoprom", editor-in-chief of the magazine "ENERGOSOVET", Moscow
Both Ukraine and Russia tried to solve the problem of ensuring the energy independence of Crimea at different times. After Crimea became part of Russia on May 18, new strength Scandals and discussions around the future of Crimean energy have intensified. Considering the weakness of the peninsula’s own generation and the region’s almost complete dependence on electricity supplies from Ukraine, the upcoming changes will inevitably turn out to be quite large-scale.
STORY
Start
In 1896, the first Crimean power plant provided current to illuminate the theater and central streets of Simferopol, but in fact, until the early 30s of the last century, all cities and villages of the peninsula were plunged into darkness in the evening. The illuminated objects today would be called VIP (photo 1).
Light would be nice, but there was no electricity even in the ports and, first of all, to ensure their operation, in 1937-38 two large power plants for that time were launched in Sevastopol and Kerch. They are still working.
The project of electrification of the Jewish administrative districts created in Crimea was unique. With money allocated by the American Joint Fund, by 1936, 55 of 85 Jewish collective farms were electrified. Soviet distributed energy, land reclamation, industrial winemaking, rabbit breeding, pig breeding, etc. were born on these collective farms. For comparison, in the country as a whole the share of electrified collective farms was then 3%.
And the decision to build power plants using wind energy in Crimea was completely revolutionary for that time. By the beginning of the 30s, in all countries the power of such installations was up to 60 kW, and in Crimea they started immediately with a hundred. In 1931, a mast 65 m high was built near Balaklava according to the design of Vladimir Shukhov, and a wind turbine with a wheel 30 m in diameter was created at TsAGI (photo 2). The station operated successfully until the hostilities of 1941, when it was blown up.
In 1932, an all-Union competition was announced for the project of the Crimean wind power plant, capable of providing electricity to the southern coast of the peninsula. The specialized institutes proposed to create an experimental unit with a capacity of up to 5 MW, but a little-known engineer, and then formally a prisoner, Yuri Kondratyuk, who was imprisoned for sabotage and released only because of the need to implement this project, won. A former wagon trailer worker and author of the work “On Interplanetary Travel,” together with architect Nikolai Nikitin, proposed erecting a reinforced concrete mast 165 m high four kilometers from the top of Ai-Petri and placing two three-blade propeller-wind engines with a diameter of 80 m each on top of each other. Kondratyuk conceived a 12 MW station, that is, 120 times more powerful than in Balaklava.
In 1937, a reinforced concrete “glass” appeared on Ai-Petri - the foundation for the mast (photo 3).
But in the same year, People’s Commissar Ordzhonikidze, who personally supported the project, died, and “investigations” of the objects sponsored by him began. The project was recognized as erroneous - no one could believe that in a hurricane wind the mast would not tear out the glass and fall. In 1938, construction was stopped.
Three decades later, Nikolai Nikitin built his mast - the Ostankino TV tower. The depth of its foundation is 4.5 m.
After the war
Some of the equipment of the Crimean power plants was taken by the Germans to Germany, but by 1951 the energy capacity was restored.
And in 1954, Khrushchev donated Crimea to Ukraine, and subsequently firmly tied them to each other, turning the narrow isthmus into an umbilical cord through which most of the water, gas and electricity came to the peninsula. In Crimea, only the already begun projects for the construction of the Saki and Simferopol thermal power plants were completed.
In the early 60s, another interesting secret project was implemented. A power plant with a capacity of 24 MW was built in Sevastopol, placing it in a mountain, on the shore of Inkerman Bay (photo 4, 5). The station was supposed to ensure the life of the fleet, including in the conditions of a nuclear war. Having worked successfully until the 80s, it was dismantled for reconstruction, which never came. Nowadays, the former secret facility is sometimes used for filming films.
By the beginning of the 80s, plans for the industrialization of Crimea appeared. The expansion of the metallurgical plant did not fit well even with the then ideas about ecology, so an attempt was made to at least make the energy sector “clean”. After a 20-year break, the construction of Crimean power plants has resumed. We started with the first experimental solar plant in the USSR. It so happened that she also became the last.
In the center of a field with a diameter of 500 m, not far from the current city of Shchelkino, a tower 89 m high was built. 1,600 computer-controlled mirrors directed reflected sunlight onto a boiler located at the top of the tower (photo 6). Steam from the boiler was directed to a turbine located on the ground. The station included a steam accumulator, allowing the station to operate in conditions of insufficient solar radiation.
The capacity of the power plant, launched in 1985, was 5 MW, and the installed capacity of all solar power plants in the world at that time was only 21 MW.
It did not produce a commercial effect, since almost all the generated electricity was spent on its own needs.
Solnechnaya operated periodically until the early 90s, after which it was closed due to lack of funding. Mirrors were sold in Crimean bazaars for a long time, and similar improved stations began to be built around the world.
An experimental wind power station was built simultaneously with the solar one and nearby. Today it is also decommissioned (photo 7).
The story of the construction of another facility next to the solar station - the Crimean Nuclear Power Plant - is no less sad. Even with the capacity of the first stage of 2000 MW, it should have “flooded” the peninsula with electricity (photo 8).
The launch of the first reactor was supposed to take place in 1989, but the economic situation in the country and the tragedy in Chernobyl led to the fact that by 1987 the project was first suspended, and in 1989 it was finally closed, with the first unit of 1000 MW being 85% ready.
From 1995 to 1999 The turbine workshop of the station hosted discos of the famous Kazantip electronic music festival.
Of those built in the 80s, only two liquid fuel gas turbine units with a capacity of 105 MW each installed at the Simferopol Thermal Power Plant operated for a long time in peak mode. Their lifespan also turned out to be short-lived and in the early 90s they were taken out of service and then dismantled.
In independent Ukraine
The problem of lack of energy capacity on the peninsula in the early 90s unexpectedly resolved itself. Industrial consumption dropped sharply, and a balanced energy supply system emerged in Crimea.
The bulk of the electricity came from the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, and 4 Crimean thermal power plants operated according to the heat load in an economical mode. Electrical networks turned out to be sufficiently developed to provide for the reduced load. The capacity of the Ukrainian energy system compensated for peaks and troughs in electricity consumption, and the Glebovskoe underground storage facility, opened in 1991, accumulated gas in the summer, allowing the peninsula to smoothly pass the winter peak of gas consumption.
But the struggle for Ukraine’s energy independence from Russia began. In fact, it developed in two directions - reducing gas consumption and replacing it with electricity generated at coal-fired power plants and nuclear power plants.
Limits on gas consumption by boiler houses and delays in the payment of budget subsidies for the cost of gas for them have led to massive underheating. The situation was further worsened by the removal of heating radiators in the entrances of residential buildings, the elimination of vestibules and the installation of metal non-insulated and leaky entrance doors (photo 9). The cold in Crimea is accompanied by strong winds, and the heat is simply blown out of the buildings, and each entrance works like a huge hood.
Residents were forced to arm themselves with electric heaters, and the previously decreased peak of electricity consumption began to grow again. The rapidly increasing use of electricity for heating markets, shops, and temporary buildings also had an impact (photo 10).
Photo 10. A typical multifunctional pole in the city of Saki. Gas and heating network not connected to buildings. Photo by the author.
If in 1990 Crimea needed about 9 billion kWh of electricity with a maximum power consumption of 1434 MW, now it consumes 6 billion kWh, with exactly the same winter maximum recorded in 2012.
It must be understood that centralized power supply systems cannot, without reconstruction, provide any power to any consumer. Each substation was built for a specific load, and those located in the residential sector quickly became overloaded. In Sevastopol alone, during severe cold spells, there are up to a hundred power outages a day.
Not so quickly, but a second similar problem has emerged - the increase in the summer peak of electricity consumption. Vacationers in Crimea have become more picky, and renting an apartment without air conditioning for the summer has become difficult. In houses located closer to the sea, apartment owners began to install split systems, and electricity consumption on hot days also increased, approaching the winter maximum (photo 11).
The current load on wires and transformers has increased. Electricity losses have increased squarely, turning into heat, which is difficult to remove from the same transformers in hot weather.
The general problem of the post-Soviet space - the sale of electrical household appliances without reactive power compensation devices - also had an impact. Energy-saving light bulbs, refrigerators, split systems consume large amounts of so-called reactive energy, which leads to additional overload of networks, transformers and, accordingly, frequent outages.
As a deterrent measure, apartment limits on electricity consumption were forced to be introduced, with a four-fold stepwise increase in the tariff as the next level of the monthly limit was exceeded. When moving to the next tariff rate, it applies to all electricity consumed during the month.
But the effect, in terms of impact on peak consumption, turned out to be clearly insufficient. The impact is that even the maximum Ukrainian tariff is lower than the Russian average, and in cold and hot weather people still turn everything on, especially since the methods of cheating the meter have been known for a long time.
As a result, Crimea was declared an energy shortage zone, and since the problem of insulating entrances was clearly underestimated, the Kyiv authorities began making large investments.
Since the beginning of the 90s, about 90 MW of state-owned wind power plants have been built, today they are partially outdated and not operational. During operation, problems emerged that the wind farm had a negative impact on the quality of electricity in the general network, which were only partially eliminated.
But the most ambitious projects were implemented in last years- about 400 MW of solar power plants were built, of which 300 MW were put into operation.
The main investor was the Austrian company Activ Solar GmbH, but its roots turned out to be Ukrainian. The “green” tariff established for solar generation was about 20 rubles/kWh, and it was paid by the averaging method by all consumers in Ukraine.
The construction of these power plants did not solve the energy problems of Crimea. Both summer and winter electricity demand peaks around 9 p.m., when there is little or no solar radiation. And the production volumes, despite the large installed capacity, turned out to be minimal. In fact, it is enough for residents to electrically heat hot water instead of centralized hot water supply from boiler houses, which has been eliminated in most cities. Installing solar water heaters would be ten times cheaper.
Also in recent years, natural gas production has developed on the shelf of the peninsula. In fact, Crimea achieved gas self-sufficiency at the end of last year, although there is a problem of insufficient capacity of some gas pipelines during periods of peak gas consumption during severe cold snaps.
CURRENT STATE
A new one has been added to the old energy problems. Ukraine was solving the problem of ensuring energy independence from Russia in Crimea, and Russia was forced to solve the problem of energy independence of Crimea from Ukraine:
- 86% of electricity comes from Ukraine, with limited capacity of intersystem power lines during periods of seasonal peak consumption. There is a danger that electricity supplies will be cut off if the political situation worsens.
- The Ukrainian energy system maintains the frequency in the network, compensates for the daily unevenness of power consumption of the peninsula, the instability of the production of solar and wind power plants, and reactive power.
- A significant part of energy assets, in particular electrical networks, belongs to Ukrainian business and the state; accordingly, there are problems with Russian investments.
According to the plans of the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation in Crimea, it is planned to build 770 MW of new thermal generation in the cities of Simferopol and Sevastopol. Another thermal power plant with a capacity of 600 MW is planned in Novorossiysk with the laying of a cable crossing across the Kerch Strait. The costs of generation and main electrical networks are estimated at 140 billion rubles. or 100 thousand rubles. per 1 kW of power.
The cost of gas produced in Crimea is very high, and tariffs for electricity and heat are lower than in Russia, which predetermines the unprofitability of projects for the construction of new large power plants and networks. Implementation of the decisions made is possible only by methods of distributing costs to all Russian electricity consumers, which contradicts the Government's anti-crisis measures to curb tariff growth.
So far there are no sources of financing, and the deadline for the adoption of investment programs of energy companies controlled by the state has been postponed to November 1 of this year.
It should also be taken into account that the list necessary costs It doesn't stop there:
- The existing thermal power plants in Crimea are unprofitable and to continue their operation, significant subsidies are required, the source of which has not been determined.
- Solar and wind power plants have unstable output depending on the weather, require 100% redundancy and are now completely offline due to the uncertainty of the source of payment for high selling electricity tariffs.
- Liquid fuel power plants imported from Russia are used as backup ones and funds are also required for their connection, formation of fuel reserves and maintenance.
- The level of gas production is insufficient to provide fuel for replacement power plants. The required amount for the construction of a gas pipeline from Kuban is 30 billion rubles.
- Solving the problems of reliability of power supply to residential buildings will additionally require increasing the capacity of almost all distribution electrical networks and reconstructing substations. There is no source for returning the necessary investments, since tariffs for the population are extremely low and are subsidized from the budget.
- Significant reconstruction of heat supply systems is also necessary.
It is also necessary to take into account the expected recovery of industry with a corresponding increase in electricity consumption.
The well-being of the residents of Crimea should also improve. Today, split systems are installed in only 5% of apartments, and residents in the heat prefer to return home only after sunset. In the near future these simple devices many will try to supply it, summer peak consumption will increase again and keeping up with this peak will be extremely difficult and expensive. The Sochi experience has shown that even when solving the problem of systemic energy shortages, numerous local outages continue.
In reality, modernization of the Crimean energy sector will require at least 300 billion rubles.
COST OPTIMIZATION
Analysis of the structure of energy consumption and the mutual influence of gas, heat and electricity consumption allows us to find very simple methods for reducing energy supply costs. The problem is that current economic models do not create incentives for energy entities and consumers to reduce system-wide costs.
Demand management
It is impossible to achieve economical energy supply if even the most advanced power plants and networks are built on top of a poor energy consumption system.
By turning on and off the computer in our apartment, we influence the entire energy system, which includes not only in-house equipment, but also network infrastructure, transformers, power stations. These systems have already achieved such enormous power that the influence of new consumers on them will always be less significant than that of existing ones.
Reducing the peak consumption of existing consumers, as an alternative to building new capacity, is a project that is clear in its advantages to any non-specialist. Costs are reduced significantly, power grids are unloaded, and consumers pay less. The apotheosis of energy saving with a negative payback period for system-wide costs.
But in energy development programs, power consumption is viewed as something immutable, although demand management methods are known and widely used throughout the world. In our country, the organization of such work is not even assigned to any federal agency. The state program “Energy Efficiency and Energy Development” is written about two separate civilizations - in the first section we save, and in the second we increase power without taking into account its savings.
There is a very large set of measures to manage the peak of electricity consumption, each of them has its own methods of administrative and economic incentives.
In Crimea, the greatest effect comes from reducing the use of electricity for heating and cooling purposes:
- Restoration of heat supply parameters and insulation of buildings. Today, residents themselves are forced to solve this problem by insulating their part of the façade of the house (photo 13).
- Introduction of at least minimum energy efficiency requirements for objects heated by electricity (photo 14). Encouraging the use of heat storage devices that consume electricity only at night.
To reduce the summer peak, a drastic measure is to transfer buildings to centralized cooling with the supply of chilled water through existing heating networks. Absorption machines will be needed that produce cold through hot water or gas combustion. In coastal areas, it is possible to use sea water through heat exchangers, which at a depth of relatively low temperature even in summer. It is also possible to use electric units with night power consumption and cold storage batteries.
Of course, these measures are not cheap, but only they can ensure the unloading of electrical networks and substations. It is quite possible to quickly reduce the maximum consumption of electrical power in Crimea to 1000 MW, at a multiple lower cost per kilowatt released, compared to increasing the system capacity.
For less money we will get the same result, gain time and solve real problems of thermal comfort for people. This opportunity will not appear again.
Existing thermal power plants
Any thermal power plant is super-economical only if it fully utilizes the heat generated as a by-product of electricity generation. But in Crimea, the heating season is only 120 days and on the remaining days it is cheaper to simply turn off existing thermal power plants, which is basically what is done.
New stations without selling heat will lose out to purchases of electricity from Ukraine, since their efficiency in real conditions will not exceed 40%. They will simply burn a lot of expensive gas. Averaging gas tariffs across Russia will only hide the problem.
An interesting project is the modernization of existing thermal power plants. The systemic source of losses is eliminated, the specific costs of building 1 kW of power are lower, the heat load can be increased by transferring some boiler houses to peak operating mode, and when organizing refrigeration supply, it can be made almost year-round. The existing equipment of Crimea's thermal power plants can provide about 200 MW. It is possible to at least double their power and electricity generation while maintaining the same gas consumption.
As a result of modernization, it is possible to obtain highly efficient, maneuverable thermal power plants, with the ability to regulate electrical power over a wide range, without leaving the economical heating mode. This is especially important for Crimea in conditions of variable consumption with a night-time decrease in power consumption by almost half from the evening peak.
Distributed Energy
Modern small energy centers in combination with refrigeration machines and heat pumps in the Crimean conditions can operate with a fuel utilization rate above 200%. Especially when using sea water - an inexhaustible source of heat in winter and cold in summer.
The only problem is that a serious business will not bother with one center, since the unit costs will be excessively high. It is necessary to form an economic model that takes into account systemic effects and move the project from municipal to federal planning with a planned capacity of 200-300 MW.
To speed up the emergence of new electrical power, the project can be implemented in stages, starting with simple small thermal power plants installed instead of boiler houses.
Renewable energy
The capacity of liquid fuel small and medium power plants brought to Crimea is more than 500 MW. They are used as backup.
When deciding on the issue of setting tariffs for solar and wind generation, it is possible to use it in conjunction with liquid fuel to ensure guaranteed total power. It is necessary to calculate the duration of the fuel regime, and if it is short, include renewable energy in the overall energy balance, reducing the need for new thermal power plants.
It should be taken into account that the high cost of liquid fuel is formed mainly due to the mineral extraction tax and excise taxes. What turns out to be a paradoxical thing is that the state collects taxes on fuel burned at thermal power plants and boiler houses, and then spends the collected funds on the construction of replacement gas facilities.
It probably makes sense to organize government purchases of liquid fuel for energy purposes at regulated prices. For Crimea, such a solution would make it possible to abandon the construction of a gas pipeline from the mainland, reduce the need for new thermal generation and maintain the priority of using “green” energy in the republic.
There are also large energy reserves in waste processing.
Finally
The “youngest” power plant operating today in Crimea was planned under Stalin and launched in 1958. All those built later are either unfinished, have already been dismantled, or are disconnected today.
All energy supply systems are created not as a thing in itself, but for the consumer. It is more reliable and cheaper to develop these systems from the consumer. All developed countries of the world have been following this path for a long time.
To ensure that Crimean homes are warm in winter, cool in summer and always light at affordable prices, can only be achieved by creating power plants that solve the whole range of problems, and not just the last one. It is fundamentally important that the creation of such energy requires less time and money, due to the prompt use of reserves and lower costs.
A positive attitude towards such a project from the population is guaranteed. People will more calmly accept the inevitable increase in payments for housing and communal services, seeing that their problems are actually being solved. Moreover, the residents themselves will solve them - new jobs and orders will appear for Crimean enterprises.
Nowadays there is often talk about public-private partnerships. In Ukraine, this partnership reached its apotheosis - the state turned into a joint-stock company of several billionaires, and citizens into their employees.
We have a unique opportunity to implement a partnership project in Crimea, the circle of participants of which can be almost unlimited.
Today, the issue of stable energy supply to Crimea has been resolved, and the supply of excess energy to the mainland is possible with a minimum of consumption in the region itself. The director of the Energy Development Fund said this Sergey Pikin.
After the commissioning of the second units of two new Crimean thermal power plants, excess electricity will be supplied to the Russian mainland, said a member of the State Duma Energy Committee Mikhail Sheremet.
"The excess electricity that is currently generated in Crimea will be transported via the energy bridge to the mainland Russian Federation", - RIA Novosti quotes Sheremet as saying.
The need for mobile gas turbine stations, which were transferred to Crimea during times of energy shortage, has already disappeared, he added.
Earlier, Rostec reported that the second unit of the thermal power plant in Simferopol had been brought to its nominal capacity, and now both units are supplying electricity to the network. At the same time, the second unit of the thermal power plant in Sevastopol will reach its nominal capacity in the near future.
The company VO Technopromexport, a member of Rostec, is constructing the Balaklava Thermal Power Plant in Sevastopol and the Tavricheskaya Thermal Power Plant in Simferopol with a capacity of 470 MW each. In June, the country’s Cabinet postponed the commissioning of the first two power units with a capacity of 235 MW each at both thermal power plants by 1 September (from May 19), the second block of the Sevastopol Thermal Power Plant - on October 1, Simferopol - on November 1 (previously for both units the deadline was June 18).
Stations with reserve
The stations were built with a certain reserve, taking into account peak consumption, meaning the winter period and the tourist season, says Sergei Pikin, noting that in the off-season, energy consumption decreases.
“Supplying surpluses to the mainland - yes, it is possible, but so far the question is not raised, this requires certain technical measures in terms of network infrastructure - this is still not a water pipe through which you can run water back and forth. But over time, supplies energy can be realized when there is a minimum of consumption in Crimea itself,” said the FBA Economy Today expert.
Now, after all, the main task, Pikin noted, is the self-sufficiency of Crimea and the availability of an energy bridge as a backup source of additional power.
Network reconstruction
As for mobile gas turbine stations, the lack of need for them does not mean that they need to be dismantled and taken away - after all, it is necessary to have reserve capacity for the first time, especially in a situation when the facilities are put into operation. In addition, the problem of Crimea’s energy sector was not only generation, but also worn-out networks, the expert says.
That is, there is generation, but delivering them to certain places is difficult. There is a need - and this work is underway - to reconstruct the networks. No one has dealt with them for decades, and here too, just in case, there are certain reserves.
The issue of stable supply
“In general, today the Crimean energy system is stable, there are internal capabilities in the form of generation, there is a reserve line in the form of an energy bridge, this is a good help. So, at the moment, the issue of stable energy supply has been resolved. There are local problems, with distribution networks, but they require additional efforts.” , - said Sergei Pikin.
Earlier in an interview with FBA "Economy Today" the head of the Republic of Crimea Sergey Aksenov said that a real breakthrough had been made in the energy sector in the region.
“In October, Crimea sent excess generated electricity to Kuban for the first time in its history.” Our region is no longer energy deficient. It is clear that in winter, when electricity consumption increases, the situation may be different, but the fact itself is very significant,” Aksenov.
The basis of the updated energy system of the peninsula was the energy bridge and two new power plants – Tavricheskaya and Balaklava. Their first units were put into operation in October and produce about 500 MW of electricity. After the launch of the second stage in the near future, the total capacity of these facilities will be 940 MW. The modernization of existing power plants is also continuing, which makes it possible to significantly increase their capacity, the head of Crimea noted.
The power supply to Crimea was fully restored on Wednesday, June 13, after the accident, the press service of the Russian Ministry of Energy reported. According to the department, about 2.5 million people remained without electricity: 2.3 million in the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, 135 thousand people in the Krasnodar Territory, reports RIA News" .
“I thank the management and employees of Rosseti for the prompt restoration of power supply to Crimea. The coordinated actions of the company’s specialists made it possible to restore the supply of electricity to the peninsula just over an hour after the accident. At the moment, the power supply to Crimean consumers has been restored in full,” the head of Crimea wrote on Facebook.
Earlier it was reported about a massive power outage in cities and regions of the peninsula. They later said that at the 500 kV Taman substation, as a result of the automatic operation, the first and second autotransformers were extinguished, reports NSN .
After this, banks and payment terminals in Sevastopol were unavailable. There was no electricity at all shopping centers, nor in private homes. Gas stations operated using diesel generators. Low power generators were also used to power some homes. It is noted that interruptions also occurred with mobile communications. Sevastopol, Kerch, Alupka, Dzhankoy, Bakhchisarai and Kirov districts, and Feodosia were outside the access zone.
At the time of the shutdown, mobile gas turbine stations located in Crimea were put into operation.
Within 40 minutes, two cable-overhead networks “returned to service,” and at 16:20, all four. At the moment, according to Rosseti, the flow of power is carried out in full. Reasons for triggering automatic systems emergency protection systems are installed at the Taman substation.
“Indeed, at 15:04, due to technological violations at the Taman substation, a complete blackout of the Crimea peninsula was recorded. In simple words, at the substation, due to two power surges, the emergency control system was activated. Two lines, “five hundred”, which went to Crimea, were de-energized,” leads FAN words of the Minister of Fuel and Energy of the Republic of Crimea.
According to the head of the department, Krymenergo dispatch centers at all levels prepared a voltage acceptance scheme and issued a command to turn on all tariffs. Restoration of power supply to consumers started at the command of the Black Sea Dispatch Office from 15:55.
All four lines of the energy bridge from the Krasnodar Territory to Crimea pass through the Taman substation. Until June, the energy bridge provided the peninsula with 800 MW of the 1,330 MW available to the region. From June 1, thanks to the commissioning of the 500 kV high-voltage line “Rostovskaya - Andreevskaya - Vyshesteblievskaya (Taman)”, the flow of electricity into the Crimean energy system via the energy bridge was increased to 850 MW.
Last August, Russian President Vladimir instructed the Ministry of Energy to submit proposals to prevent rolling power outages in Russia.
Putin instructed the head of the Ministry of Energy to conduct an analysis of the causes of power supply failures in 2017, primarily in Far East and in Crimea.
In the same month, Novak held a meeting in Yalta on power supply to consumers in Crimea and the Krasnodar Territory in conditions of abnormal heat. According to the minister, records for electricity and power consumption were broken in the regions for several days in a row. He cited rising electricity consumption as the reasons. industrial enterprises, intensive development of the resort and recreational complex of Kuban and Crimea, increase in household load due to the use of air conditioners.
In December 2015, the then Crimean prosecutor announced charges of sabotage brought in absentia against the alleged organizer of the energy blockade of Crimea, Lenur Islyamov.
“One of the leaders was Islyamov. Currently, citizen Islyamov has been charged in absentia with sabotage,” Poklonskaya said.
Then, as a result of the actions of Ukrainian and Tatar extremists, the peninsula was left without electricity for several weeks.
Download the number in format pdf(4483 kB)
One of the key issues at the meeting of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on March 31, 2014.
in Simferopol, the energy supply of Crimea became almost completely dependent on Ukraine for this.
According to the minister energetics of the Russian Federation Alexander Novak, to date, several options for the development of the energy and gas supply scheme for the peninsula have been worked out, the final option will be selected by May 1.
In the meantime, while government officials are deciding what the Crimean energy sector will be like in the near future, we will look at what is “available” today.
Simferopol Thermal Power Plant named after V.I. Lenin
Everyday life without heat and light
was called Simferopol State District Power Plant named after. IN AND. Lenin. Commissioned in 1958
The station has two heating steam turbines T-34/55-90 and three steam boilers BKZ-160-100FB.
The thermal power plant also has two water heating boilers of the KVGM-100 brand.
As a result, the installed capacity of the Simferopol CHPP is only 68 MW, thermal power 364 Gcal/h.
In 1984 and 1986 At the Simferopol CHPP, two gas turbines GTU-100-750-3M were launched, with an electrical capacity of 100 MW each. Currently, these two gas turbines do not generate electricity.
Photo 1. Simferopol Thermal Power Plant named after V.I. Lenin
Kamysh-Burunskaya CHPP
Put into operation in 1938. Kamysh-Burunskaya CHPP also previously bore the name GRES, until 1972, when it was renamed to CHPP.
Currently, the station has two steam turbines PT-12-35/10 M, one PR-6-35/10/5 and two steam boilers BKZ-75-39FB.
30 MW, thermal power - 103 Gcal/h.
However, electricity is not released from the station, only heat. This is apparently due to the peculiarity of the installed turbines, the operation of which requires an external industrial consumer of steam, but there is none.
Photo 2. Kamysh-Burunskaya CHPP
Saki Thermal Power Plant (now Saki Heating Networks)
The Saki thermal power plant was put into operation in 1955, in 1978.
The thermal power plant was renamed Saki Heat Networks.
The power plant has two T-6-35/16 steam heating turbines and three BKZ-50-39 FB steam boilers.
The installed electrical capacity of the power plant is 12 MW, thermal - 154.5 Gcal/h.
Currently, the power plant also has a combined cycle gas plant PGU-20 with a capacity of 20 MW in pilot operation.
PGU-20 was developed by the Ukrainian enterprise “Research and Production Complex of Gas Turbine Engineering “Zorya-Mashproekt””, Nikolaev.
Photo 3. Saki Thermal Power Plant (now Saki Heating Networks)
Sevastopol Thermal Power Plant
Commissioned in January 1937, it was the flagship of the energy sector of the Crimea Peninsula. During the Great Patriotic War The power plant was destroyed and the equipment was taken to Germany.
After the liberation of the city of Sevastopol from the occupation of German troops, the Sevastopol Thermal Power Plant was restored from 1944 to 1951 and resumed power supply to vital facilities of the city, the Black Sea Fleet and the cities of Crimea.
Installed electric capacity of the thermal power plant - 33 MW, thermal - 153.3 Gcal/h.
Photo 4. Sevastopol Thermal Power Plant
Crimean nuclear power plant
The construction of the Crimean nuclear power plant was conceived as a solution to fully supply the entire Crimean peninsula with electricity, as a result of which Crimea could become a completely energy-independent region.
Construction of the nuclear power plant began in 1975. It was planned to install two VVER-1000 nuclear reactors at the power plant, each with 1000 MW of electrical power.
The completion of construction was scheduled for 1989. But the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant occurred, and the local public expressed a categorical “against” the construction of the nuclear power plant.
As a result, construction of the station was stopped. At the time construction was stopped, the readiness of the first power unit was 80%, the second - 20%.
Photo 5. Crimean Nuclear Power Plant (construction in progress)
Alternative energy of Crimea
Crimea can seriously boast of success in alternative energy. According to some data, in recent years, up to 20% of the electricity generated on the peninsula comes from renewable energy sources.
These are mainly solar power plants and wind power plants.
Thus, in recent years, solar power plants “Rodnikovoe” and “Perovo” have been put into operation in the Simferopol region, “Okhotnikovo” and “Mityaevo” - in Saksky and “Nikolaevka” in the Pervomaisky region.
Wind energy in Crimea is represented by seven wind power plants. The largest of them are the Donuzlavskaya Wind Farm (installed electrical capacity 18.7 MW), the Vodenergoremnaladka Wind Farm (installed electrical capacity 26 MW), the Tarkhankutskaya Wind Farm (installed electrical capacity 15.9 MW) and the East Crimean Wind Farm (installed electrical capacity 2 MW).
Solar power plant "Perovo", Simferopol region.
Conclusion
The current state of Crimea's energy sector, unfortunately, is characterized by a fleet of outdated energy equipment that has exhausted its service life and low reliability of energy supply.
Crimea's own sources of electricity generation cover the peninsula's electricity demand by only 20-30%.
Although alternative energy is developing, it can still cover only a very small part of the electricity needs of the residents of the peninsula.
It is impossible to imagine what could await Crimeans if, say, electricity supplies from mainland Ukraine are cut off.
When preparing this article, materials were used from the website “Energy.
Thermal power plants and nuclear power plants."
Archive of numbers
Issues for 2009: №1 (1), №2 (2), №3 (3), №4 (4), №5 (5),
Issues for 2010: №1 (6), №2 (7), №3 (8), №4 (9), №5 (10), №6 (11), №7 (12), №8 (13),
Issues for 2011: №1 (14), №2 (15), №3 (16), №4 (17), №5 (18), №6 (19),
Issues for 2012: №1 (20), №2 (21), №3 (22), №4 (23), №5 (24), №6 (25),
Issues for 2013: №1 (26), №2 (27), №3 (28), №4 (29), №5 (30), №6 (31),
Issues for 2014: №1 (32), №2 (33) , №3 (34), №4 (35), №5 (36), №6 (37),
Issues for 2015: №1 (38), №2 (39), №3 (40), №4 (41), №5 (42),
Issues for 2016: №1 (43), №2 (44), №3 (45), №4 (46),
Issues for 2017: №1 (47), №2 (48), №3 (49), №4 (50),
Issues for 2018: №1 (51).
Articles by topic
Energy (18) ,
Energy efficient construction (17) ,
Renewable energy sources (21) ,
Regional experience (3)
About the work of the NP “Energy Efficient City” (8),
Energy management (5) ,
Energy efficient buildings (2) ,
Information about the work of the Coordination Council (124),
Economics and management (135) ,
Heating (95) ,
Energy efficient lighting (53) ,
Energy accounting (16) ,
Energy service and ESCO (47) ,
Electricity supply (13) ,
Cogeneration (4) ,
World experience in energy saving (44),
New technologies (46) ,
Energy surveys and energy audit (30) ,
Media Review (5) ,
Climate, geographical location and a large number of sunny days per year make the Crimean peninsula a place where solar power plants can be profitably built. They assessed the potential of Crimea a long time ago, back in Soviet times, by building here the first complex of this kind - the Shchelkino solar power plant (SES-5).
The Shchelkino power plant was largely experimental.
It was built to test equipment and gain experience in operating such systems. The power of the solar power plant was 5 MW, the energy it generated was supposed to meet the needs of the peninsula in case of problems at the Crimean Nuclear Power Plant.
Energy of Crimea
To build SES-5, they found a flat open area with a diameter of 500 m. In the center of it they installed a tower 89 m high with a steam boiler on its top. The tower was surrounded by 1,600 mirror reflectors with an area of 25 square meters. m. each. A special computer changed the angle of the reflectors so that the sun's rays from their surface were directed to the boiler and heated the water to a boil. Steam from the water rotated the rotor of a generator, generating electricity for consumers.
The Shchelkino power plant began its work in 1986; it was closed due to lack of funding shortly after Perestroika. Most of the equipment went to scrap metal, but the place where SES-5 was located is still clearly recognizable on satellite images.
Power Grid Krima since December 29, 2016 under the leadership of the Department of Regional Black Sea Shipping in Russia, UES of Russia.
The system lacks energy; the largest electricity producers are: mobile gas turbine power plants with a total capacity of 405 MW and TE Simferopol with an electrical capacity of 100 MW.
To solve the problem of electricity shortages, in 2018 it is planned to complete the construction of the Sevastopol and Simferopol feasibility studies with a total capacity of 940 MW and the modernization of the Saki SPTE to increase capacity by 120 MW. A special feature of the system is the highly variable production of solar power plants due to weather conditions.
The transmission of electricity through the main networks is carried out by the state unified company "Krymenergo", where the nationalized assets of the National Energy Company "Ukrenergo" are transferred.
The transmission of electricity in Crimea through distribution networks is also ensured by the State Unitary Enterprise of the Republic of Kazakhstan "Krymenergo", in which the nationalized assets of PJSC "DTEK Krymenergo" were transferred.
In 1896, the first Crimean power plant provided a stream to illuminate the theater and central streets of Simferopol.
In 1932, construction of an underground power station on Krot began in Sevastopol. The building was completed after the war, in the 1950s.
In 1962, 220 kV Kakhovka - Dzhankoy - OSG Simferopol, TE was put into operation, connecting the Crimean network with the general southern grid.
In 2005-2011, the Simferopol-Sevastopol line was transferred from 220 kV to 330 kV.
In 2013, about 6.3 billion were transferred to the electrical grid. kWh of electricity, of which more than 5.0 billion kWh from the continent.
The main part of the consumed threads electric current(from the Zaporozhye Thermal Power Plant of Zaporozhye, Nikolaev region from the network) for four high-voltage power lines:
The maximum distance over which electricity was transmitted exceeded 500 km - from Ukrainian nuclear power plants to Kerch, which is comparable to the distance from the Rostov power plant.
In 2014, the installation of 13 mobile gas turbine power plants and 1,500 diesel generators, as well as the signing of two contracts for the supply of electricity, is the first event to ensure the supply of Crimea during the transition period. Measures such as the reconstruction and relocation of floating gas turbine power plants or the maneuvering of the GT-100-3M are practically not considered. Due to high energy costs, the shipment of two previously built power plants was delayed for several months.
By decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated August 11, 2014, the Crimean energy system was included in the list of technologically isolated territorial electrical systems of Russia.
The tasks of the operational services of dispatch control and energy transmission to the spine in August 2014 are provided by the State Unitary Enterprise of the Republic of Kazakhstan "Krymenergo", which was created in accordance with the resolution of the State Council of the Republic of Crimea dated April 11, 2014 and the decision of the ARC Council of 30 Ministers in April 2014.
The balance of the company was transferred to the nationalized property "Ukrenergo" (system operator of the joint energy system of Ukraine), which is located on the territory of Crimea: Crimean power system, Simferopol main electric networks, Dzhankoysky main networks, Feodosia main electrical network, a separate division of "Yugenergoprom",
In September 2014, Ukraine introduced restrictions on the supply of electricity in Crimea: zero flow on all four power lines from 9 to 11 am and from 7 pm to noon.
The restrictions were lifted after contracts were signed on December 30 for the supply of coal and electricity from Russia to Ukraine.
In the fall of 2014, an open competition was announced for the construction of a cable passage through the Kerch Strait. The tender parameters showed that it should be designed for an operating voltage of 220 kV, completion of construction by October 2016. JSC VO Technopromexport and JSC Stroytransgaz were accepted to participate in the tender.
In September 2014, preparatory work for its construction began, after which the route and land plans were selected.
On January 21, 2015, the State Council of the Republic of Crimea supported the DTEK Krymenergo company. The main shareholders of the company were:
At the end of 2013, the total length of the DTEK Krymenergo power transmission line was 30,581 km, the total number of substations. 9053 units of power plants. 6178 MVA.
In June 2015, the flow from Ukraine ranged from 500 to 900 MW, depending on the time of day.
In October 2015, Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian activists made the first attempts to introduce "energy blockages" into Crimea, damaging the support lines of the Kherson region connecting the Ukrainian peninsula. On November 20 to 22, there were four electric poles for air, for which they completely stopped the supply of electricity in Crimea and parts of the neighboring territory of Ukraine itself.
According to Russian energy, in order to speed up the work on creating the Crimean power bridge, the first set has been put into operation, which is connected to the Crimea network of the general south of Russia, the organizers of the energy blockades announced that a partial lifting and agreed to connect the Kakhovka - Titan lines. On the night of December 7-8, the 220 kV line “Kakhovskaya - Titan - Krasnoperekopsk” began its work.
The rest of the power line was not restored. On the morning of December 8 Russian ministry Energy reported a recovery in consumer goods. Most of the demand for electricity on the peninsula has closed its resources, as well as the energy bridge with Kuban. According to the Ministry of Crimean Emergency Situations of Russia, on the evening of December 12, the total electricity consumption was 844 MW in Crimea, even due to own production- 432 MW, due to the flow of the Crimea-Kuban energy bridge - 219 MW, due to overflow with Ukraine - 192 MW.
Completion of the first phase of the energy bridge was originally planned for the end of 2016. After the support was undermined, the structure accelerated.
The first phase of the first phase began on December 2 and produced approximately 250 MW of power. The second set was on December 15, 2015. The official visit of the fourth stream took place on May 11, 2016, which, together with the local generation, provided for the basic needs of the peninsula.
In 2014, the length of 220 kV and 330 km power lines was 1353, 220 kV - 663.75 km.
In the years 2015-2018, the network was the main transmission line expanded through the construction of a new coffee substation and integrating it into the existing network, the modernization of the Kamysh-Burun and Simferopol stations and the construction of new power lines connected to the Crimea and Kuban energy system.
In 2016, the electric power complex of the Republic of Crimea included 138 power transmission lines of 110-330 kV with a total length of 3831 km. We have distributed Black RDU 124 transformer stations and switching stations from 110-330 kV with a total capacity of 8246 MVA.
power transmission line 330 kV "Melitopolskaya - Dzhankoy", "Kakhovskaya - Ostrovsky" and "Kakhovka - Dzhankoy" was disconnected near the border with Ukraine, and with the 330 kV substation "Ostrovsky" and the 330 kV RTP "Dzhankoy" put on "safety voltage".
In 2017, transmission systems structure 15 was a subpage with a capacity of 3,432.8 MVA. The main stations were:
Three of them (Dzhankoy, Ostrovskaya and Titan) installed units for registering electricity imports from Ukraine.
By 2016, Goda RTP 330 kV “Dzhankoy”, “OSTROVSKY” is being introduced in a circular pattern and the “Zapadno-Krymskaya” substations and the dead-end line “Simferopol” are under voltage of 330 kV for a redundant network of 110 kV.
Radial (nezakoltsovannaya) kV ridge of the peninsula system 330-220 has a fairly overhead redundancy of lines more low level voltages that do not provide the throughput required by internal networks in emergency situations and emergency recovery mode.
The construction of the 330 kV power transmission line “Western Crimea-Sevastopol” with a length of 92 km has been completed. In February 2018, the construction volume was 98%. It is also planned to build facilities to compensate for reactive power.
For the energy bridge in Crimea in the period 2015-2016. Two new stations were built:
Station 220 kV Coffee is a transit power station, a connection point for three cables and overhead lines of the electrical network in Crimea. This is the main distribution terminal. It supplies the power station from north to east.
Construction of kV Coffee 220 began on April 4, 2015 and was completed in less than a year: voltage was applied on December 15, 2015, with labor costs of 1.9 billion rubles. Further expansion of the station up to 330 kV is envisaged: The design of the station provides for the necessary elements, two powers leading to Simferopolske stations in the measurement of 330 kV.
Coffee TP 220 kV is located near Feodosia, 120 km from the Kerch Strait. Eight 220 kV lines are connected to the station. The main energy flow is divided into a 220 kV transmission line leading to the west and northwest of the peninsula, partly south of Feodosia.
Within the project, the maximum power divided into 110 kV networks will be 250 MVA: AT 220/110 kV 2x125 MVA. At the first stage, AT 220/110/10 kV is installed, which meets the station’s own needs.
The continuation of the energy bridge - the 220 kV Kafa-Simferopolskaya power transmission line with a length of 116.2 km was built from the substation.
5 km south of the Kafa substation is the 220 kV Feodosiya substation. During construction, the 220 kV Feodosiya-Nasos-2 and Feodosiya-Simferopol lines were rebuilt during the reconstruction of the 220 kV Kafa. The length of the power line after cutting was:
On May 20, 2016, due to the operation of the emergency monitoring system at the Kafa station, three 220 kV power networks were cut off, which supplied electricity to the west and northeast of the peninsula.
The electrical network began 17 minutes after the shutdown. Most of Crimea was left without electricity. Based on the results of the shutdown analysis, work was done to transform arrangements for the electricity supply.
By 2020, it is planned to reconstruct the 220 kV Feodosia substation with an increase in transformer capacity from 188 MVA to 250 MVA.
Electric power industry on the Crimean peninsula
For this purpose, the 63 MVA autotransformer is replaced by 125 MVA.
With the construction of the Kafa station and the change in flow pattern, a delay is associated with the connection of the largest SDP Vladislavivka in Crimea with a capacity of 110 MW, located 8 km east of the Kafa metro station.
For extra-budgetary funds, the construction of the 220 kV Vladislavovka groundwater is carried out with tenders for a long-term 220 kV power transmission line with a length of 3 km, and labor costs are 2.13 billion rubles. The responsible contractor is Calypso Solar LLC, the operation is scheduled for 2017, but the substation has not been built.
It is planned to install two 220/10 kV transformers, each with a capacity of 80 MVA.
It is planned to make calls and reorganize the 330 kV power transmission line "Zhanskaya-Kakhovskaya" to a voltage of 220 kV Titanovaya line 220 kV to the 220 kV 220 kV Titan-Kakhovsky power transmission line with a length of 1 km.
Built-in amplifier VRTDNU 240000/35/35 with a flow rate of 240 MVA.
In 2014, the MHE Sevastopol network was connected to an outdoor 110 kV device.
In 2017, total production capacity mobile devices amounted to 135 MW.
To ensure the capacity of the new thermal power plant in 2017, the reconstruction of Sevastopol TsVV 330 kV was planned by increasing the transformer capacity from 450 MVA to 650 MVA by installing a second 330/220 kV AT with a capacity of 200 MVA.
Due to my first education and place of work, I cannot help but be interested in processes that are in one way or another connected with changes in the energy system of Crimea, which recently returned to Russia. Considering the weakness of the peninsula’s own generation and the region’s almost complete dependence on electricity supplies from Ukraine, the upcoming changes will inevitably turn out to be quite large-scale. Below I will give a summary of the materials that I monitor daily in various media; all data was taken from open sources.
Energy shortages in Crimea are a legacy of Soviet times. Since the late 1960s, plans have been made for the development of local generation through the construction of a nuclear power plant, but in 1987, at the stage of readiness of the first power unit of the nuclear power plant, about 80% of the work was stopped due to the Chernobyl disaster. And soon the Union collapsed, industrial production collapsed, and the energy consumption of the peninsula decreased accordingly. The issue of insufficient own generation (four Crimean thermal power plants continued to operate in an economical mode for heat supply needs) was no longer acute - the Ukrainian energy system as a whole is redundant, and the existing networks were quite enough to transmit electricity from the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, which covered up to three-quarters of Crimea’s needs.
The cost of a kilowatt-hour generated by a nuclear power plant is much lower than that generated by a thermal station. At first glance, the policy of the Ukrainian authorities to systematically replace expensive gas with cheaper electricity was a logical step. And the pendulum began to swing in the opposite direction. When limits on gas consumption were introduced for thermal power plants and boiler houses and centralized hot water supply was affected, both residents and commercial consumers inevitably armed themselves with electric heaters and water heaters.
Crimea was again declared by the Ukrainian authorities to be a deficit region, and systematic attempts were made to focus on alternative energy. The first steps, however, were taken back in the early 1990s, when state-owned wind power plants (WPPs) with a total capacity of about 90 MW were built. Then, primarily thanks to the Austrian investor Activ Solar GmbH (according to Expert Online, with Ukrainian roots), solar power plants (SPP) with a capacity of 400 MW appeared. An “ecological” kilowatt-hour cost exorbitantly – about 20 rubles, and all Ukrainian consumers paid for it using the averaging method. After the annexation of Crimea to Russia and the legal conflicts that arose because of this, SPPs were disconnected from the energy system. In any case, wind power plants and solar power plants are not a panacea, since in order to ensure reliable power supply to consumers, full redundancy of their power is required. In addition, the generation peaks of wind and solar power plants and the consumption peaks of the energy system do not coincide.
Currently, the Ukrainian energy system covers up to 86% of Crimea’s peak load via existing intersystem power lines (in 2013, Crimea consumed over 6.5 billion kWh with its own electricity generation of less than 1.2 billion). In the current international situation, such dependence is a constant threat to Crimea. Moreover, according to the E-Crimea news agency, the Minister of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine Yuriy Prodan made a statement in which he did not rule out cutting off the power supply to Crimea in winter, noting that the accumulation of debt here could be only one of possible reasons.
The more obvious is the need for either the construction of new lines to connect the Crimean energy system to the Unified Energy System of Russia and/or new generation. Nuclear power plants, hydropower and coal are no longer needed for various reasons, leaving only one alternative - gas. Moreover, the Glebovskoe underground storage facility, opened in 1991, accumulated gas in the summer, allowing the peninsula to smoothly pass the winter peak of consumption. At the same time, development of the peninsula's shelf was underway. True, although Crimea was able to actually achieve gas self-sufficiency, two new problems arose: insufficient peak throughput of gas pipelines and the high cost of offshore gas with reduced (subsidized) tariffs for electricity and heat. As a result, even having provided itself with gas, Crimea was never able to achieve cost-effective production of electricity and heat from it. All operating thermal power plants on the peninsula are unprofitable. In addition, they are also inefficient - the “youngest” power plants operating in the region today were launched back in 1958. All existing generation objects different types, built later, were either unfinished, dismantled, or disconnected. This whole tangle of problems now needs to be solved by Russia.
One of the first measures taken was the import of liquid fuel power plants with a total capacity of over 300 MW into Crimea. However, diesel fuel is extremely expensive, and now generation is used as a backup. This solution is temporary, not systemic.
Disconnecting Crimea from the Ukrainian energy system, according to Energy Minister Alexander Novak, will cost Russia 130 billion rubles. With these funds, it is planned to build two or three thermal power plants on the peninsula with a total capacity of 770 MW and connect the Crimean energy system with the Russian one through the Kerch Strait using two power lines with voltages of 220 and 330 kV (according to official information from the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation, after all, two double-circuit lines of 220 kV ). Bigpower, citing the same Ministry of Energy, reports 177 billion, taking into account the strengthening of the Kuban energy system to ensure the necessary flows.
It is clear that investments in the peninsula’s energy sector will not be limited to this. It will be necessary to invest in increasing the capacity of intra-city electrical and heating networks and building engineering systems. 40 billion rubles will be spent on laying a gas pipeline from Kuban to power plants. The circle could amount to 300 billion rubles, and this does not take into account the well-known disease - the eternal increase in construction estimates “as the play progresses.” It is also necessary to resolve the issue of ownership of Crimean energy assets, some of which belong to Ukrainian businesses.
Previously, Crimean energy companies worked under direct contracts with the Ukrainian state enterprise Energorynok, but since April it has terminated contracts with Crimean power plants. Since June 1, supplies have been carried out by Ukrinterenergo through DTEK Krymenergo. The latter's electricity will be purchased by the Settlement Center owned by Inter RAO. He will also sell it to end consumers in Crimea. According to Kommersant, the agreement between DTEK Krymenergo and the Inter RAO structure has already been signed. Price parameters for supplies are not disclosed. An employee of one of the Russian energy structures, an official of the Crimean government and an official of the Ministry of Energy told Vedomosti that the price is 3,420 rubles/MWh, it will be valid until December 31, 2014.
The electricity price set by Ukraine for Crimea is much higher than similar prices for other countries. In 2013, Ukraine exported 9.9 billion kWh to six countries, most of all to Hungary (4.3 billion kWh), Belarus (3.1 billion kWh) and Moldova (1.4 billion kWh). Supply prices for these countries ranged from 55 to 71.4 dollars per MWh, that is, approximately 1900–2500 rubles/MWh).
Until June 1, Ukraine supplied electricity to Crimea at a low price, so the average tariff for consumers was 1.5 rubles/kWh. As Alexander Novak promised, Russia will maintain this price by subsidizing the purchase of electricity for the region. According to preliminary estimates, about 8 billion rubles will be allocated for subsidies. In the end, prices for Crimean electricity will be brought to Russian levels, but exactly when is not reported. Crimean solar power plants and wind farms will not receive subsidies yet.
The investment attractiveness of Crimean energy development projects is greatly limited by subsidized tariffs. The main consumer of electricity in Crimea is the population, and tariffs for them remain low even compared to tariffs in the rest of Russia. In such conditions, large-scale construction of new power grid facilities risks not only not paying off, but also placing a heavy burden on the entire energy system of the country. So far, it seems that there is still no clear understanding of how the construction will be financed, since different sources give different versions. Most likely, however, the state will have to become the main investor in one form or another; attracting private capital now seems like a fantasy. But even in the first case, there are several different approaches, including a review of the planned investment programs of a number of electric power industry entities. However, wait and see. It is almost obvious that they will not delay the implementation of the planned plans for the actual reconstruction of the Crimean energy system.