Measurement and Verification; Establishing Relevant Procedures in Ukraine

Abstract

Ukraine is at a cross roads. Several important decisions are needed to be made and carried out in a short time to secure the future of their in many cases broken and inefficient district heating systems (DHS), which heat the homes and offices of millions Ukrainians today.
To make matters worse they have foreign interests panting down their necks with demands of payments regarding gas bought and imported, all the while there is no sign of gas prices actually dropping, but rather rising.

DemoUkrainaDH is a bold project, which aims to bring modern technology, in the form of individual heating substations (IHS), and international practices and expertise in district heating (DH) to Ukraine.

This thesis focuses on the potential energy savings gained through the installation of IHSs and other energy conservative measures (ECM)s by creating a baseline- and prediction model. These are based on monthly data, from the periods 2010-2012, supplied directly by the DH company CTKE in Cherkassy, Ukraine. Measurements and monitoring of three Internet connected IHSs in the same DHS has been analysed to determine specific trends and performance.

The results point towards a decline in energy consumption. For the period January 2014 to February 2015 the decline in system total gas consumption where estimated to 20 241 479 m3 or 31,7% of the gas consumption of that it would have been according to the baseline model. During the same period it is estimated that a total reduction of 2,3GWh of electricity (13,1%) was accomplished. For the boiler houses affected by the modernization however the gas consumption was reduced by 18,3%, which is lower than the total savings. Whether these reductions in gas and electricity result from more efficient technology and procedures or from a general reduction in gas consumption at the CTKE plant as a directive resulting from external factors remain unclear. Several Measurement and Verification (M&V) protocols were studied because of its' importance in determining energy savings. Through them, an example M&V plan was made with the installation of IHSs and related ECMs in Cherkassy as the M&V-object. This is presented together with relevant data analysis to hopefully spread knowledge and the importance of continuous documentation while trying to explain how similar M&V plans can be carried out, for similar projects.

Data was also provided from the city of Vinnytsia, Ukraine. This data turned out to be lacking key parameters that were asked for through a template, and therefor act as an example of how human factors such as culture, communication etc. can hinder what others might seem a trivial task of collecting relevant parameter measurements.

Several recommendations follow from the authors' field visit to Cherkassy DH company CTKE and their experiences with their method of work. Among these are;

* Converting the current company structure from a hierarchy based system to a more flat, transparent system.

* Establishing an in-house system for easy and accessible documentation for a more efficient overview of ECM effects and possible problems.

* Further invest in monitoring equipment for real-time overview of the IHSs and their performance.

Popular Abstract

After installing modern technology in a district heating system in Ukraine, the total gas consumption for the system was reduced by over 30% for a 14 month period! Fantastic! Just imagine how much money and carbon dioxide that must save. However, the part of the system that was affected by installing the modern equipment only had an 18% reduced gas consumption which is notably less than the total savings. Now what does this tell us about the effect of installing the new technology?

Around half of Swedish households are heated by district heating, yet many people do not even know what it is. This is not a major surprise since it is a heating system hidden in the ground and in our basements. District heating is also a prominent technology in former Soviet Union countries. Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, for example have the world’s third largest district heating system. Here district heating is however carried out in a different manner. Simply put these systems are less flexible than the ones we have and in many cases they are deteriorated due to high age and insufficient maintenance. This often causes an imbalance in heating, resulting in apartments being either too cold or too hot, with no means for the customer to regulate this.

This has led to district heating modernizations being quite common projects in Eastern Europe, often administrated by western consultancy firms. The intention of these projects is to spread the technique and knowledge about the customer controlled systems that we have in Sweden today. Implementing this technology have the potential to reduce the energy consumption and enhance the quality of service.

Following up these projects to estimate the energy savings is important and in the interest of several parties. In many cases it has however proven to be complicated due to the lack of metering and documentation from district heating companies in these countries. Performing these savings determinations without a standardized transparent method renders the result unreliable and of little value for those interested in the outcome of a project. We found that a framework was needed to keep an evaluation of these large scale systems together. We established a template for how to follow up this type of project in combination with performing an example on a district heating company in Ukraine.

In addition to determining the potential savings it is important to follow up the projects to ensure that the equipment is functioning as intended. A lot of money is involved, and a lot of money is at risk of being wasted in case the systems are not operated properly. If the new system is not functioning well it is bad for all involved parties since money is lost and quality of service to the customer is at risk. As a result, trust in this modern technology and the western parties then might be severely damaged.

Our follow-up procedure takes into account the savings determination but also ensuring the quality of service. It can be used as a template for follow up of future projects of this type. Curiously enough we found that several of the modern substations installed seemed to perform in an undesirable manner. But how would one know if one did not perform a follow up? Customers have been used to poor quality of service with the old system but it is of high importance that the new system change that, since these modernization projects should also provide social value. In our report there are example of substations delivering insufficient supply temperatures to the tap hot water, which is not only an inconvenience for the households but is also a potential health risk! People die every year as a cause of legionella bacteria which is a major risk in hot water systems if temperatures are not high enough.

All this does not mean that the new technology is bad in any way. District heating systems are large and complex and adjustments might be required at several points to ensure optimal performance. But again, following up these projects are necessary to identify these potential deficits and correct them!

• author: Jonsson, Love and Rydén, Emil
• supervisor: Bengt Sundén
• organization: Department of Energy Sciences
• course: MVK920 20151
• year: 2015
• type: H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
• subject: Technology and Engineering
• keywords: ECM, M&V, Measurement and Verification, Monitoring and Verification, District Heating, Modernization project
• report number: ISRN LUTMDN/TMHP-15/5355-SE
• ISSN: 0282-1990
• language: English
• id: 5472774
• date added to LUP: 2015-06-16 10:57:47
• date last changed: 2015-06-18 14:04:26