The Power Sector of Ukraine: Collapse or Survival

Abstract

There considered the state of the basic traditional power industries of the Ukrainian economy: hydropower, nuclear, thermal one, which were put into operation as far back as in the time of the planned economy. The analysis of the hydropower industry has revealed its extreme inefficiency in terms of the use of space for the generation of a unit of electricity (1 TWh / year), which makes up 900 sq. km for the cascade of the Dnieper HPPs. This significantly exceeds the figures of the world hydropower industry (53 sq. km). The existence of the cascade of the Dnieper HPPs led to the practical destruction of shipping, as a result of which the country incurs annual losses from USD400 to 700 million. The existing nuclear power industry, whose security state is supported by the EU, is approaching the service life limit of 50 years, which cannot but affects the growth of the accident rate. As regards the existing thermal power industry, it is also approaching the limit of its possible service life and does not meet modern requirements either for input-output energy efficiency, not for the permissible level of pollutant emissions. Consequently, it is necessary to make a transition to the renewable power industry, but its growth rate is much less than is planned in the Energy Strategy. Therefore, the proposed development option will help overcome the onset of a national energy crisis by attracting investments (the increase in emission tax rates and the abolition of VAT for the import of modern equipment for TPPs) in modern efficient thermal power industry and stimulation of renewable power industry by eliminating the maximum power limit for green tariff users and justifying the growth of tariffs for energy in the short term.

Keywords

• energy strategy
• energy efficiency
• emissions
• technogenic catastrophes
• renewable energy