CHP for boiler house. Khmelnytskyi district heating utility — over 20 years of cogeneration
The municipal utility Khmelnytskteplokomunenergo has been operating Pervomaisk-built cogeneration units since the early 2000s. The utility fully covers its own electricity consumption and sells the surplus to the grid. Below are the operating scheme, the figures and the conclusions for district heating utilities and industrial plants.
Site profile
■ Site: boiler houses of the municipal district heating utility, Khmelnytskyi (population about 300,000).
■ Equipment: gas-fired cogeneration units built in Pervomaisk, predominantly rated at 500 kW.
■ Number of units: 14 domestically built units as of mid-2024 (city council data).
■ Time in service: over 20 years.
■ Operating mode: parallel operation with the grid, island mode during outages.
■ Output in 2023: 21 million kWh, of which 15 million for own needs and 6 million sold on the electricity market.
CHP for boiler house - project history
The utility purchased its first unit in the early 2000s, when the low gas price made self-generated electricity inexpensive. Once reliability had been confirmed, the fleet was expanded in stages. Financing came from the utility’s own funds, the municipal budget, leasing and loans. The objective, as stated by mayor Oleksandr Symchyshyn, is the maximum possible autonomy of the city’s heat supply.
According to the city authorities, as of mid-2024 there were 14 domestically built units operating in Khmelnytskyi, all manufactured in Pervomaisk. One further unit of Austrian manufacture was donated to the city as humanitarian aid. CHP for boiler house.
Operating scheme
According to the utility’s chief power engineer Ihor Tsvietus, under normal conditions the units run in parallel with the unified power system, and electricity generated in excess of the boiler house’s own demand is fed into the grid. When the grid goes down, the unit switches to island mode and covers the site’s own needs, while the boiler house continues to supply heat to consumers.
The units operate year-round. Fewer units are in service during the summer: each one is taken out for scheduled maintenance annually, including replacement of control equipment.
Current Dieselmash CHP units are built on medium-speed 6ГЧН25/34 and 8ГЧН25/34 engines (600 rpm): service life to major overhaul is at least 80,000 engine hours, total service life 240,000 engine hours.
Figures
■ electricity generated in 2023 — 21 million kWh;
■ the utility’s own consumption — 15 million kWh;
■ sold on the electricity market — 6 million kWh;
■ residential heat tariff in 2024 — UAH 1,480.92 per Gcal.
Gas accounts for 85–87% of the heat and hot water tariff, so self-generated electricity has a moderate effect on the tariff. In the mayor’s assessment, cogeneration is largely responsible for Khmelnytskyi having one of the lowest heat tariffs in Ukraine.
Operation during attacks on the power system
During the 2022–2023 heating season, with critically low electricity limits across the region, the utility maintained heat and hot water supply in island mode. After one of the attacks, heat supply was restored using the CHP units before the air raid alert had ended; according to the mayor, restoration takes up to 30 minutes.
The task set by the city is that the boiler houses must operate when there is no electricity. Distributing the units across different boiler houses reduces the dependence of the city’s heat supply on any single source.
Conclusions for other operators
■ Phased implementation. The fleet was expanded gradually, as reliability was confirmed and financing became available.
■ Approval timelines. The full project cycle of a CHP unit through to industrial operation is 2–6 months. A utility that sells surplus power to the grid additionally requires authorisation from the regional grid operator; in Khmelnytskyi, with all approvals, a single unit could take a year or more to implement.
■ In-house service team. The units are serviced by the utility’s own staff. Training of operating personnel is included in the Dieselmash turnkey scope of supply.
■ Scheduled maintenance in the off-season. Routine work is carried out in summer, when the thermal load is at its lowest.
■ Integration into an existing boiler house. This shortens thermal circuit design by 3–4 weeks and reduces CAPEX. Dieselmash has delivered such projects for district heating utilities in Khmelnytskyi region and in Kamianets-Podilskyi.
Other district heating sites
■ Miskteplovodenergia, Kamianets-Podilskyi — 7 units with a combined output of 4.15 MW, since 2010;
■ Oblteplokomunenergo, Chernihiv — 2 units with a combined output of 1.0 MW, since 2023.
For district heating utilities in small and medium-sized cities, the DvGA-500 and DvGA-630 are used: 500 and 630 kW of electrical output, about 720 and 900 kW of thermal output. Technical specifications are given in the article “DvGA-500 and DvGA-630: technical specifications”.
Input data for a boiler house feasibility study
■ monthly thermal load of the boiler house for the past 12 months, with heating and hot water stated separately;
■ electricity consumption of the boiler house and its operating schedule;
■ planned running hours: heating season only, or year-round with hot water supply;
■ gas pressure at the connection point and a valid contract with the gas supplier;
■ space available for the unit inside the boiler house or on the adjacent site;
■ whether surplus electricity is to be sold to the grid.
CHP calculation for your boiler house
State your thermal load, operating regime and gas supply parameters. A feasibility study with a payback calculation is prepared within 3–5 working days, free of charge.
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