Proceedings World Bioenergy 2010

authorities, village schools and kindergartens, and third
parties (e.g. consultancies). Hence there are more actors
involved in ABF 2 as compared to ABF 1. They are also
more diverse as they include not only buyers and sellers
of straw feedstock but also researchers, consultants and
other motivated enthusiasts.
Currently ABF 2 is represented with up to 10
examples of working UTEM boilers in different regions
of UA [30,26]. The need to expand energy production
from straw to supply village schools and other municipal
buildings with heat is often mentioned by respondents
[55,16,30].
In two cases within ABF 2 the initiative to install a
straw-fired boiler emerged from third parties (consultants
or potential consultants) [55,30]. Neither the owners of
the installations (municipalities) nor the producers of
straw feedstock (local agricultural companies) have
become the prime movers to introduce a straw-fired
system although they had demonstrated an overall
support and engagement in the activities. Only in the case
of Olgopil it was the municipality that catalysed the
transition towards bioenergy. However, Vinnytsya
province, where the boiler is located, is recognised to be
an exampleous one in the sense of straw use for energy in
UA [16,66,55], and has the biggest number of
functioning straw-fired boilers (seven) [58]. Vinnytsya
province also has a working state programme on the
promotion of renewable energy sources, which is being
implemented via straw-fired boiler installations [53].
In all cases straw handling and delivery is managed
and organized either by feedstock growers or a third party
(e.g. consultancy). The intention to put this responsibility
on a school director in the case of Stavy did not bring any
successful results but constrained the project
implementation instead [16], which demonstrated a need
for the correct assignation of responsibilities between the
actors in the system.
The case of Vyshnyuvate, which has not been
implemented yet, faced numerous institutional constraints
primarily caused by the constraining behaviour of market
incumbents represented with the lobby of coal industry
[55]. Also the lack of transparent vertical governmental
influence (from top to bottom) was noted as a barrier for
the project implementation [55].
The reasons for a transition to straw use were of
economic nature and also of a desire to increase the
energy self-sufficiency in remote areas and provide
continuous heat supply to village educational institutions.
Since there are not so many working installations of
ABF 2 in UA, the demonstration character of the projects
has contributed to the justification of the reasons for their
implementation.
This ABF type is identified only for Ukrainian setting
and has not been encountered in WE.
4.4 ABF 3: Medium scale local straw production for heat
sale
ABF 3 cases involve private agricultural enterprises
that produce heat from their own straw resources
combusted in their own boilers, and sell it to a DH network
in the village. Heat is supplied to local municipal buildings
and dwelling houses that are connected to the grid, which
is owned by local municipality [63,61].
Straw supply is completely organised by the boiler
owners, and they burn only straw produced on their farms
[63,61]. Mainly wheat straw is used. Ash from straw
102 world bioenergy 2010
combustion is then spread on the fields of the farms as a
natural fertiliser.
In Drozdy the boiler was produced by Danish company
Passat Energi A/S and installed with technical and
financial assistance of Danish partners [63] (Fig. 1). The
boiler in Zlatoustivka was manufactured by UTEM and
purchased at the company’s own expense [61].
Figure 1: Straw-fired boiler (980 kW), Drozdy village,
Kyiv province, Ukraine
This ABF type represents intraindustrial level of
analysis with a slightly bigger number and types of actors
involved in the system as compared to ABF 2.
Stakeholders include agricultural enterprises,
municipalities, village councils, local secondary schools,
kindergartens, community centres, hotels, dwelling
houses, consultancies, project partners and executing
bodies, etc.
The system has medium degree of complexity and
formalisation. Written contracts exist between heat
producers (agricultural enterprises) and heat users (local
municipalities).
The installation of a straw-fired boiler for the
provision of DH in villages was done in the substitution
of existing installations fired with natural gas [63] or coal
[61]. An important prerequisite for the success of the
projects was the existence of quite broad heat distribution
networks in place, where no significant technological
changes and investments were required. The best proof of
that a boiler has been a successful enterprise is the
installation of an additional small (150 kW) straw-fired
boiler by the managers of the agricultural company in
Drozdy for their own needs on the farm a few years later
[63].
The owners of both installations are satisfied with
their operation, and the boilers can be considered a
success as they brought a number of economic, social and
environmental co-benefits to the villages. First of all, the
dependence of the village DH system on natural gas or
coal was eliminated due to the fuel substitution with
locally sourced straw. This enhanced local energy
security and also resulted in cost savings from fuel
purchase for the municipality, which buys heat at lower
tariffs from the agricultural enterprises [63,61]. Besides,
the enterprises created an additional source of their
incomes by valorising their agricultural waste and selling
the heat from straw combustion. Second, in social area