12:52 23.04.2019

Ukraine urgently should adjust public policy in support of renewable energy

2 min read
Ukraine urgently should adjust public policy in support of renewable energy

The large difference between the forecast and real indicators of electricity generation by renewable energy facilities is leading to the necessity of involving a large number of flexible generation capacities in the most "expensive" modes, Ukrenergo Head Vsevolod Kovalchuk has written on his Facebook page.

"The lack of responsibility for unbalances for wind farms and solar power plants, that is, for incorrect forecasting of electricity supply, together with low prediction for insolation, provokes huge deviations of real electricity generation from the plan. The deviation for a single solar power plant reaches 95% in some hours, and in the country it is 40%," the head of Ukrenergo said.

According to him, in connection with this, for example, for a solar power plant with a capacity of 200 MW, it is necessary to simultaneously hold additional "hot" reserves of 40-80 MW for reloading and the same amount for unloading. And given the degree of wear of units of flexible generation capacities – thermal power plants (TPPs) – to "support" the solar power plants' operation for 200 MW, one and a half or even two TPP units of 200 MW each must be in reserve, the head of the transmission system operator said.

Thus, the operation of large renewable energy facilities leads to an increase in the periods of operation of the flexible generation facilities in the most "expensive" maneuver modes, Kovalchuk said.

As one of the solutions to this systemic problem, the head of Ukrenergo considers it necessary for the government to approve the procedure for holding auctions for the creation of new power generating facilities and means of managing the demand, as required by the law on the electricity market.

"For more than a year, we in Ukrenergo have been sounding the alarm on this issue. Everyone is writing and writing papers, and messing around with mail, but there is no good and competitive procedure," Kovalchuk wrote.

In addition, it is imperative to adopt a law on green auctions, which will contribute to the formation of a market pricing mechanism for electricity generated from renewable energy facilities.

"Clean renewable energy is 100% the high and right goal for the entire world, including me personally, but not at such a price and not by such methods as it is happening in our country. It is necessary to change the public policy in this area urgently," Kovalchuk said.

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