TECHNOLOGICAL POSSIBILITIES OF INCREASING THE RESILIENCE OF THE POWER AND DISTRICT HEATING SYSTEMS OF UKRAINE

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The decarbonization of the global economy has become a driving force behind the rapid development of wind and solar power plants. This process is also taking place in Ukraine, a signatory to the Paris Agreement aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The sharp increase in capacities of solar and wind power stations, due to the stochastic nature of their generation, has led to a number of systemic problems in the energy sector, including the significant excess of electricity generated by them. Given the insufficient flexibility of existing power systems and daily load variations, frequency regulation in the grid and power balance maintenance become significantly complicated, necessitating the refinement of existing methods and the application of new ones for their balancing. The purpose of this article is to identify the possibilities and assess the feasibility of the comprehensive application of Power-to-Heat technology along with electrical and thermal energy storage to enhance the resilience of power and heating systems, which also represents a scientific novelty. The conducted analysis and modeling have shown that the use of electric boilers as electric heat generators in Power-to-Heat technology provides much lower investment costs and greater maneuverable capacity compared to heat pumps. Heat pumps in Power-to-Heat technology are justifiably used in existing cooling systems, for example, in warehouses for storing chilled products, or when a large amount of thermal energy is required with minimal electricity consumption. By appropriately selecting the capacities of electric and thermal storage and the power of electric heat generators, it is possible to completely solve the problem of excess electricity from solar and wind power stations without imposing forced restrictions on their output power, thereby avoiding losses, which in the first half of 2021 in Ukraine amounted to no less than 17.2 million euro. This will also ensure the resilience and sustainability of energy systems, reduce fuel consumption by district heating system boilers, leading to a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions. Bibl. 63, Fig. 8, Tab. 2.