CHP Plants in Russia: the Necessity for Technological Renovation

The role of combined heat and power (CHP) plants in the electric power industry of Russia is shown. The operational efficiency analysis of public service CHP plants and the fuel, power, and age structure of the existing CHP plants are carried out. Their main problems, such as underuse of generating equipment, excessive production in the condensing mode, high degree of equipment wear, and technological heterogeneity, are identified. The necessity of technological renovation of the CHP plants is shown. The energy efficiency of the combined production of electric and thermal energy by the existing CHP plants is compared to modern technologies for their separate gas and coal production. It is shown that the thermal capacity of the CHP plants in Russia exceeds the required capacity by almost two times. Estimates of the CHP plant thermal capacity necessary to cover the current heat loads are obtained for Russian regions. Main directions of the CHP plants' renewal based on the use of competitive domestic equipment and operation according to the heat load schedule are determined. Systemic impacts achieved by technological renewal are determined for gas-fired CHP plants with allowance for the climatic and load features of the Russian regions. It is shown that the technological renewal of gas-fired CHP plants will allow saving up to 16% of today’s fuel consumption, reducing the total CHP thermal capacity by 47.5% with the same volume and heat supply mode. The operation of a CHP plant according to the heat load schedule leads to a reduction in the electric capacity of the CHP plant by 20% with an increase in electricity generation by 11%. As a result, the consumption of the installed electric and thermal capacity of the CHP plant increases dramatically as does the fuel efficiency and the annual loading balance of external gas-fired condensing power plants. The needs for GTPs and CCGTs required for the technological renovation of the CHP plants is assessed. The necessity for developing competitive domestic medium and high power GTPs is considered.