What are thermal power plants and thermal power plants and why Russia wants to destroy them in Ukraine
- Oleg Chernysh
- BBC News Ukraine
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The destruction of the Ukrainian energy system is a new target for Russian attacks. Since the beginning of October, Russia has been attacking electrical substations, thermal power plants and thermal power plants throughout the country. But the Ukrainians are repairing them – and returning them to users. What is the meaning of such attacks?
“Since October 10, 30% of presidential power plants have been destroyed, which led to massive energy consumption throughout the country. There is no more left for negotiations with the Putin regime,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in Ukraine, calling the Russians’ new tactics “terrorist.”
Indeed, objective assessments are primarily aimed at providing the population, and not water resources.
Attacks on them are prohibited by subsequent conventions.
Vladimir Putin has publicly announced that construction has been completed on 29 “objects expected by the Ministry of Defense,” and almost all of them successfully.
What is CHP and TPP?
Rocket strikes, sometimes even repeated ones, hit CHPP-5 and CHPP-6 (both in Kyiv), Burshtynskaya TPP in Ivano-Frankivsk region and Ladyzhynska TPP in Vinnitsa region. Dozens of electrical substations were also damaged.
Some regions, including Kyiv, were left without electricity for several hours. But in general, it was possible to correct the situation, and it was not required to use fan consumers for a long time. And the dangerous facilities themselves are already being actively repaired and returned to service.
So why did Russia choose thermal power plants, thermal power plants and substations as the main targets of the new stages of the war?
A thermal power plant (thermal power plant) is an object that generates electricity along the route of fuel, such as gas or coal, in special boilers. They also circulate water through pipes, which, when heated, turns into steam. It rotates the turbines, which generate electricity.
For the first time the station launched such almost 150 years ago in the USA. And on the territory of the former USSR, mass electrification began in the 1920s.
CHP (combined heat and power plant) is a station that simultaneously produces both electricity and heat for consumers. The heated water is pumped to the consumer’s premises by means of pumps.
Note that in recent years, the proportion of deaths from CHP and TPP has been declining. These include, in particular, high gas prices and shortages of coal.
Slow down the percentage of atomic energy. As of 2021, four nuclear power plants supply 55% of the country’s electricity production, and almost fifty thermal power plants and thermal power plants – only 29%. The rest was covered by wind, solar and hydropower.
Substations for receiving, distributing and converting electricity. This is actually a room or territory with a set of transformers that convert the high voltage current received from a thermal power plant or nuclear power plant into lower voltage electricity to power electrical appliances.
Ukraine has transformers, generators and other equipment for repair. In addition, the country promptly receives assistance from Western partners.
For example, on October 17, Ukrenergo reported that Poland and Belgium handed over transformers due to emergency supplies, as well as generators and insulators for power lines. Japan also agreed to help with the restoration of natural resources.
How water saved Kyiv from blackout
But any repair is time. Of particular note is that Russia frequently re-attacks nutrients.
For the period until such an object consumes electricity, consumers are connected to another. So, for example, when Russian missiles smashed a thermal power plant in Kyiv, the townspeople were rescued by a hydroelectric power station (hydroelectric power station). In a hydroelectric power plant, instead of steam, water under pressure rotates turbines, generating electric power.
True, the discharge of water from the Kyiv reservoir through the turbines of the hydroelectric power station led to an increase in the water level in the Dnieper, in particular, within Kyiv.
“Raising the water level in the basin was what increased the release of more energy at the Dnieper cascade station, and this compensated for the lack of electricity at a given point in time in the capital’s body,” said a BBC energy expert of the BBC Ukrainian Service -si energy expert Gennady Ryabtsev.
Yuri Korolchuk, an expert at the Institute for Scientific Research, uses this data, but also provides his own warnings.
He says that the active use of hydroelectric power plants can lead to a critical indicator of water dynamics in the reservoir, which inevitably depends on the time of filling and restoration of work.
“In fact, it’s bad that they manage their water reserves in Ukrhydroenergo … Spring is still waiting for us, and there it is still necessary to wait for water to come and provide resources for energy generation,” the analyst is concerned.
However, the generation of energy from hydroelectric power stations can only cover peak loads in the evening and morning hours, the main volume of an atom during the day is estimated on the balance. In particular, for the Kyiv region – this is the Rivne NPP.
But nuclear energy also has its own characteristics.
“Nuclear units do not accumulate their load during the day, they work with a constant load, consume basic consumption,” Ryabtsev said.
Accordingly, there must be an additional source of energy, which will cover the peak hours during the day. Typically, this role was assigned to thermal power plants and thermal power plants.
However, they are now damaged. Citizen import authorities reduce the load on the system in the morning and evening hours.
An alternative to this is the forced shutdown of some consumers during these time periods.
Yuriy Korolchuk is unambiguously in favor of this path: “Calls to consumers to save electricity have less effect.
Why is Russia attacking thermal power plants and thermal power plants
So, thermal power plants, thermal power plants and substations are elements, a partial achievement of not providing a critical imbalance in the entire energy system of the country.
In addition, it should be noted that thermal power plants built in Soviet times are quite durable objects that begin to be completely destroyed even by rocket attacks.
However, sharp blows to urination are supposed to be contrary to the microphone. This is not so much destruction as “shooting”.
The same missile attacks on Ukrainian thermal power plants, but already during the heating season, can lead to more catastrophic consequences than a few hours without electricity.
“If the thermal power plant is destroyed, when it is minus 10-15 degrees outside, then there is a risk of failure of the entire pipeline system that transports the coolant from this station to the consumer,” says Ryabtsev.
“If the water in the pipes freezes, it will simply burst the pipes, and it will be impossible to restore it,” the speed is reminiscent of such a case in Ukrainian history. – There was such a problem in Alchevsk (in January 2006, – Ed.), When The CHP plant completely destroyed the district heating system.
The heating season is to continue on October 20. “We made the decision to start the season, primarily because of the observed conditions — a gradual cooling and a drop in temperature at night,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko explained.
Yuri Korolchuk believes that Russia is especially for the Ukrainian leader, which can be kind during the cold weather: “I would regard all these blows as observing the nature of the study of the thermal season. .
In addition, according to the expert, Russia can find a place and “shatter” the Ukrainian energy system. According to him, in fact, unexpected strikes hit not 30%, but 10% of Ukrainian energy, but tangible consequences have already taken place.
“Technically, losses are violated, but at this level the system functions. I compare it with loosening a fence. That is, you take it and gradually shake it, shake it, someday it may fall,” the expert argues.
In his opinion, a special role in the statistics of “loosening” is the increased risk of cheap drones at the power substation. The unexpected defeat of the transformers forced the power to stop, restore the equipment and start it up again.
What can Ukraine do?
Both independent experts and the authorities agree on one thing: the best defense of objects of prestige of Ukraine is the identification of anti-missile and air defense systems, which occupy a special place among them.
“Ukraine needs to protect the sky over its energy facilities,” Energy Minister Herman Galushchenko uses Western partners.
Practical recommendations for Ukrainians themselves are the already mentioned calls to reduce electricity consumption during the day, and especially during evening peak hours, from 17:00 to 23:00.
“This will help restore and restore the broken power grid that needs to be restored,” the health minister said.
This confirms the results. For example, on October 10, the day of massive missile strikes, Ukrainians voluntarily reduced their consumption by about 10-11% in the evening hours.
Another option under discussion is the import of electricity to Ukraine from the EU countries. Until October 11, the situation was the opposite – Kyiv, a significant excess of energy, exported it to the EU.
Attacks on the power grid provoke these exports.
The head of the Ukrainian permit, Denis Shmygal, noted that there is a possibility of importing energy from Europe, but so far there is no such need.
“Now there is no need for emergency assistance from European countries, or for the import of electricity. We have such an opportunity, if necessary,” he says.
Energy expert Yuri Korolchuk is skeptical about such dangerous consequences. In his opinion, in Ukraine, European neighbors emit only “small volumes” of electricity, in addition, there are technical problems with how to deliver it to Ukrainian users.
“A certain amount of electricity from the EU can really close some part of the need. [электроэнергию] It’s just not a human mind to accept here,” he said.
At present, the main guarantor of the stable operation of the Ukrainian energy system is only a safe sky, reliably protected from Russian missiles.