ABSTRACT
The main trends, priorities and possibilities of developing the coal mining and power industries of Ukraine are described against the background of an energy policy aimed at increasing the share of domestic energy resources and at further diversifying import sources. The intended use of domestic coal forms the basis for the development of the Ukrainian solid fuel and power generation industries.
ELECTRIC POWER NEEDS AND GENERATION.
Electrical power engineering is a highly developmental branch of the national economy implying a full technological cycle from design to equipment manufacture, production, distribution and marketing.
The rated capacity of the electric power stations of the United System remained stable between 1996 and 1999 at 53.9 GW, of which 36.4 GW (67.5%) thermal, 12.8 GW (23.8%) nuclear and 4.7 GW (87%) hydro. While electric power generation decreased, thermal plants generated the main share (60% in 1994; 58.4% in 1995, 51.7% in 1996; 49.8% in 1997 and 47.3% in 1998). Their capacities covered the base load (51.5% in 1998), compared with 12.2% by hydropower and 36.3% nuclear power stations.
The needs of Ukraine for energy resources to generate electricity and heat grow with each passing year. In 1996 the country needed 61 Mt of coal; in 1997, 76 Mt; in 1998, 65.5 Mt. In 1996, thermoelectric plants consumed 60.4% of energy resources (coal, gas, residual oil) the share of coal being 25.5%. The picture was almost the same in 1998. However, power plants in the Ukraine operate under the double constraints of short supply of fossil fuels and mass-scale non-payment for power consumed. Such a situation affects the safety and reliability of the whole Ukrainian power generation system.
COAL PRODUCTIONS AND USE
The coal-mining industry of Ukraine occupies a leading position in supplying the country with power and securing its national safety and independence. Such a role is confirmed by the tendencies of world power generation: coal is the main source of global power generation and provides 40% of generation in Europe and 44% in the world. Coal will also be one of the main raw materials for power generation in future. The resources of coal in the world are five times those of oil and gas. The potential resources of coal are 15 times those of oil.
There are, first, the economic advantages of coal use. The cost of coal at the world market is half that of natural gas. There is a second - political - advantage, connected with the energy independence of the country. The main source to meet Ukrainian demand for natural gas is imports. But under the existing economic conditions, coal is more economic in comparison with natural gas. The experience of leading countries shows that power generation policy should take into account the country's own natural resources.
The Ukraine has different kinds of coal: hard coal, bituminous coal, anthracite, etc. Though the amount of coal resources is sufficient, coal mining continually has decreased. From 1991 to 1998, coal mining was cut by half (164.8 Mt in 1990 and 76.2 Mt in 1999). The crisis of the coal mining industry in Ukraine is due to a number of factors. The main reason was the investment policy of the former USSR: coal-mining operations were reduced in the Donbass, because it was possible to develop coal fields in the eastern regions of Russia, containing cheaper coal.
While production decreased, productivity increased as shown in the table below.
1996 1997 1998 average per worker (in t/month) 15.8 18.2 19.8 face productivity (in t/day) 244 289 312 for mechanized faces (in t/day) 357 421 463
Nearly 40% of all mines have been functioning for more than 50 years, and14.9% for more than 70 years. Over 35% of the mines have a productive capacity of 300 kt a year, which is lower than the annual productivity of one modern powered face mining system. About 90 mines, characterized by low productivity, mine less than 10% of coal. One fifth of miners are employed at these mines, which absorb about 20% of State investments. In 1998, in the Ukraine 211 mines were in operation and 62 of them produced 7.8 Mt of coal more than planned, and 149 mines were not able to fulfill the plan of coal extraction, mining16 Mt less.
Thus, it is possible to come to the following conclusions: it is possible to raise the level of coal mining if all non-productive mines were closed and the released funds and material resources were used to re-equip and modernize profitable mines and collieries.
New technologies are to play an important part in the revival of the coal mining industry. We mean both the technologies of coal mining and the technologies of using coal. In 1998, the ash content of coal mined in the Ukraine was 35.7-36.4%, while the ash content of processed coal was only between 23.3-25.3%. It is not the quantity of the coal mined, but the production of finished marketable products that must guide the operation of an enterprise. High manufacturing cost of coal may be explained by high operating expenses and by the low level of technical equipment of mining industry enterprises.
HEAT SUPPLY
The specific fuel consumption of Ukrainian thermal power stations is four times higher than that in the countries of western Europe, the USA and Japan. This can be explained by a number of factors, connected with the technology of fuel processing. Steam- and gas turbine power units, which operate on natural gas, are considered to be the most efficient. That is why a little more than 50% of supplies are natural gas. Natural gas consumption in 1997 was at 80 bcm, of which only 18.1 bcm from indigenous sources. Thermal power stations consumed 12.8 bcm. Gas production in Ukraine will grow, but in insufficient quantities. That is why Ukrainian power generation will be oriented to natural gas import, although modern coal-fired power stations have high technical and economic indexes.
A. Shidlovsky, Vice-president of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, academician G. Pivnyak, academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine