Ivan Nadein: “Ukraine has the largest potential for biomass in Europe”
Ukrteplo is one of the first companies in Ukraine who was engaged in renewable energy. It was founded in 2011. At present, this group of companies is the leader at the biofuel market, and also has the largest biofuel boiler-house in the country. One of the founders of Ukrteplo, Ivan Nadein, told about the realities of the Ukrainian biomass market and about the company’s work.
Ambitious perspectives
The main activity of the Ukrteplo is the production of thermal electricity from biomass (200,000 gcal per year). In addition, the company built a hydroelectric power station, a biogas plant (working on waste from a landfill). Now Ukrteplo is constructing 4 bioTECs, 2 of them will work on wood biomass and 2 – on agrobiomas. The energy produced by Ukrteplo already provides most of the needs of Slavutych city. In the plans for next heating season there is the expansion of the project to completely transfer this city to renewable energy sources.
Another area of activity of the company is the growth of energy wood biomass. As for the sake of its objects, as for sale. The first planks of energy willow were planted in 2015, and initially they provided a Ukrteplo’s boiler house. The convenience of descendants of willow is that it is suitable for the northern regions and grows well on infertile lands. For southern regions, the use of sunflower seeds and corn waste is relevant. This year, 20,000 tons of sunflower pellets have already been used on bioTEC.
There is something to work on
Ivan Nadein calls Ukraine the country with the largest potential for biomass in Europe: “We have the largest territory and, accordingly, the greatest biomass opportunities. According to estimates of growing and collecting grain we see the potential of production up to 35 million tons of biomass for use in the energy sector.
At present, the undervalued potential of straw use in Ukraine remains. Despite, it could be a good solution for the Southern regions of the country and in general a panacea for the Ukrainian fuel market. Now Ukrteplo together with American partners has started a large-scale and extremely creative work on the extraction of second-generation ethanol from straw, which will allow to replace certain petroleum products.
Pros and cons
If we talk about the environmental component of the issue, then we can see the undoubted advantage of switching to biofuels. It is the so-called “zero effect” when the amount of CO2 absorbed by the plant during its growth and produced during its burning is equal. According to Ivan Nadein, it must be admitted that the biomass boiler has some disadvantages. Such as the release of chlorine during the burning of straw. However, we can’t call them critical because it can be handled this by improving the filtering of exhaust emissions.
Of course, the biggest advantage of using biofuels is substantial savings. “If the price of gas will increase by another 40%, then the biomass potential will be used more actively. We pay currency for gas, but biomass remains in the country. At the same time, it is jobs, taxes and the absence of a currency leak, says Ivan Nadein. – It is more profitable to work on the domestic market, since it does not require logistics spending. Although Europe wants to buy our cheap biomass”.
Such companies as Ukrteplo do not feel the support of the state. The “Green Tariff” works, but it is not enough to significantly increase the share of renewable energy in the overall energy balance of Ukraine. We must admit that natural gas is still a priority for the government.