Proceedings World Bioenergy 2010

form of heat and constitutes 0.65% in UA’s total primary
energy supply (TPES) [20]. UA utilises biomass mainly
as firewood [21]. Wood pellet production is primarily
export oriented [22,23]. Crop residues are burnt in
converted and specifically designed boilers [20,24,25].
There exist up to 25 straw-fired boilers in rural areas in
UA [26]. A few farms operate small-scale individual
biogas units [20]. Among larger biogas installations a few
pilot projects were carried out in 2004-2009 [27,28].
Today only a few large-scale plantations of energy crops
(i.e. coppice crops and perennial grasses) exist in UA
[23]. All of them have been introduced quite recently,
and have not been harvested yet. There exist six first
generation bioethanol production plants with a total
capacity of 135 000 million tonnes per year [29] and
eight big oil-extracting plants that produce rapeseed oil
[24] in the country.
2.2 Potentials for energy from biomass and straw
Total technical potential of biomass and peat is
estimated at 1062 PJ per year or 18.11% in the country’s
TPES [14]. Annual potentials for agricultural residues
and energy crops constitute the main share equalling
739 PJ (or 69.5% in the country’s overall biomass
potential).
Straw has the highest potential among all agricultural
residues - 175 PJ per year (or 16.5% of total biomass
potential). Every year from 6-8 [13] to 10.2 [17] million
tonnes of straw can be used for energy production in UA
without putting other needs in straw under pressure. In
addition, straw is also considered to be one of the easiest
and the cheapest biomass options that can be developed
in Ukrainian conditions [13,15,30]. For the farms with
their own straw resources a straw-fired boiler payback is
1-2 years while for those that purchase straw at USD 26-
33 per tonne it is about 3 years [15].
Current total annual fuel consumption in all boiler
houses in rural areas of UA constitutes about 84 PJ,
which can be fully supplied with straw resources
available in the country [31]. At present the main share of
straw use for energy is performed in UTEM boilers [32],
the total installed capacity of which is about 8.9 MW.
Annual use of straw in these boilers is about 14 100
tonnes (or 0.2 PJ) [33,16].
2.3 Technology for crop residue use for energy
Straw combustion technology in UA is represented
with a few companies that produce straw-fired boilers
and their parts, heat generators and grain-drying units that
use straw and/or other crop residues as a fuel.
The biggest straw-fired boiler manufacturer and the
only one that produces water-based straw-fired boilers
with the capacity of up to 1 MW that can be used for the
heating of premises is OJSC UTEM [26,32]. UTEM
produces boilers under the license of Danish company
Passat Energi A/S; it also provides design works,
arranges heat works and service maintenance [32].
Currently up to 25 UTEM boilers are installed in
different regions in UA [26], which in most cases
produce heat for municipal buildings in the villages (i.e.
schools, kindergartens, premises of village councils,
cultural centres, multi-storeyed living houses, etc.) or/and
for local agricultural enterprises.
Scientific Engineering Centre (SEC) Biomass carries
out research and development of straw-fired heat
generators [34]. OJSC Bryg is one of the few companies
that produce biomass-fired heat generators and grain-
drying units on biomass [35]. Currently about 20 Bryg
products are installed in the country [36]. There are also a
few manufacturers of heat generators and boilers that
work on a mixture of solid fuels [37-40].
2.4 Market potential for crop residues
SEC Biomass estimated technical and commercial
potential for biomass boilers and suggests that by 2015
total thermal capacity of wood-, straw- and peat-fired
boilers in UA can reach 9000 MW [21]. This would
allow to reduce GHG emissions by 11 million tonnes per
year and substitute 5.44 billion m 3 of natural gas
annually. The total estimated investment cost is about
USD 0.64 billion [21].
In October 2009 97% of briquettes from sunflower
husk and 100% straw briquettes produced in UA were
sold outside the country [41]. The main markets can be
found in Poland with smaller amount sold in Germany,
Czech Republic, Hungary and Lithuania.
2.5 Support schemes and mechanisms
Ukrainian government accepted a number of
documents supporting bioenergy development in the
country. The State Development Programme of Biofuel
Production and Consumption is the framework policy. It
aims to increase the share of biofuels in the national
energy balance to 5-7% [42]. Other important laws in this
area include the Law of UA On Amendments to Some
Laws of Ukraine on Support of Biofuel Production and
Consumption, which sets a target to increase the share of
biofuel use to 20% in total fuel consumption in the
country by 2020 [43]; the so called Law On Green
Electricity Tariff, and a set of Laws On Minimisation of
Financial Crisis Impact. The latter laws set specific
economic support mechanisms. Bioenergy projects in UA
can also be developed as joint implementation (JI)
projects under Kyoto Protocol [44].
3 METHODOLOGY
3.1 General approach
This work presents results on straw use for energy in
UA and compares them to similar experiences in SE and
DK. A detailed analysis of nine initiatives (Table I) on
straw for energy is applied to underpin the proposal of
three types of ABFs for organisation and action in
Ukrainian setting. ABFs are developed for each case, and
then contrasted and compared in a cross-case analysis
and a broader cross-country context.
Coverage topics that have driven case study selection
are given in Table II.
Table I: Cases on straw use for energy in Ukraine
Village (region,
province)
Strutynka,
(Lypovetsk,
Vinnytsya)
Lebedyn,
(Shpola,
Cherkasy)
Olgopil
(Chechelnyk,
Vinnytsya)
Stavy, (Kagarlyk,
Kyiv)
Boiler
size, kW
Purpose Informants
250 Heat for agro- Director of the
enterprise
“Rapsodiya” and a
mill
agro-enterprise
250 Heat for agro- Leading energy
enterprise
“Lebedyn Seed
Plant”
expert
300 Heat for the local 1st deputy head
secondary school of local
administration
350 Heat for local Project
secondary school coordinator
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