The only source of heat in Teplodar city is a gas boiler house owned by the Municipal Utility Company “Odessa Thermal Power Plant 2”. The company was established in 2016 after the election of a new mayor. Prior to that, the provision of heating services was handled by a private company, LLC Teplodarenergo, which was close to the previous head of the city. The private company owed about UAH 4 million for natural gas, after which Naftogaz refused to start gas supply and the population managed to freeze well in October 2016. The city decided not to wait, but in advance to prepare for the new heating season. The total heating area of thermal energy consumers in the city is 202.8 thousand m2, and the connected heat load is 14.3 Gcal/h. Annual sales of thermal energy is about 26 thousand Gcal. The population consumes more than 90% of all thermal energy. The gas boiler operating in TPP mode is about 5 km away, and transportation losses reach 25%. Gas overruns – about 1 million m3, or 8 million UAH annually. Considering the losses, the tariff for heat for the population is one of the highest in Ukraine – 1268.32 UAH/Gcal ( 1521.99 UAH/Gcal with VAT). Reducing heat losses to the standard 13% by repairing and / or reducing grid length will save UAH 4.8 million and reduce tariffs for consumers.
In the course of the research it was found that in order to reduce heat losses and reduce dependence on gas suppliers, it is advisable to build a boiler-house within or on the outskirts of the city, or to reconstruct an existing heat network with the reconstruction of an existing boiler/thermal power plant. It is worth noting that the city of Teplodar is not gas and completely dependent on electricity supply. For the construction of a gas boiler house, it is additionally necessary to lay a gas pipeline in the city 5 km in length and to establish hydraulic fracturing, which is a long-term solution and cannot be implemented until the new heating season. In such a situation, the construction of a biofuel boiler room is a very realistic and acceptable solution, and the thermal energy from such a boiler room can start to be realized as early as the next heating period at the rate of 90% of gas.