DTEK Dnipro Grids to develop a two-year plan together with the Dnipro city officials to switch some buildings to autonomous heating

Thermal power generation01 October 2021

DTEK Dnipro Grids specialists, together with the local city leaders, are starting to develop a two-year plan of joint arrangements to strengthen the networks. The plan will be in place to ensure uninterrupted power supply to more than 1,000 residential buildings after disconnecting them from centralized heating.

By the decision of the City Council deputies taken during the scheduled session on July 28, it was decided to disconnect 1,004 apartment buildings from the central heating system after installing individual heating.

“Every single resident will get permits for the installation of individual heating and project documentation. Those who do not have arrears on heat supply bills will get compensation from the city budget, which will cover the costs of installing individual heating. It is assumed that the shift to autonomous heating will last around 1-2 years,” says Deputy Mayor Mikhail Lysenko.

Within 1-2 years, the company plans to analyze the network condition and develop a plan of measures required to strengthen them. The energy company supports the systematic approach of local authorities to develop a clear action plan for a step-by-step and comfortable transition to autonomous heating within two years.

“DTEK serves the Ukraine’s interests and makes sure that customers' homes always have lights on and comfort. Following the example of Kamensky and other cities, which centrally switched residents to electric heating, the level of network loads in such houses tripled. It is necessary to significantly upgrade the network to avoid emergency shutdowns due to non-standardized additional load. These are re-laying of networks, construction, and re-equipment of transformer substations, etc. Now we have created a working group, to which we have invited representatives of the city department of Dnipro housing and utility services, a heat supplier. Together we need to decide on the top-priority steps and develop a step-by-step plan to implement such a project so that this transition is as comfortable as possible for the residents of our city,” underlines Andrii Tereshchuk, Director General at DTEK Dnipro Grids.

DTEK Dnipro Grids confirms that there is a need to closely analyze the state of the external power grids of houses that the city plans to disconnect from centralized heating, and to develop a separate plan to strengthen lines and electrical equipment.

With the support of the city authorities, a working group was established to fully analyze the network condition, because such a transition requires a significant increase in capacity to ensure the reliable power supply under conditions of increased loads. The company notes that the external power grids of most residential areas in Dnipro were designed back in Soviet times. Now they fully ensure uninterrupted power supply. However, they are not designed for excess loads if people switch to individual electric heating.

According to the company, out of more than 1,000 houses to be disconnected, only 546 are serviced by DTEK Dnipro Grids. The rest are serviced by other Distribution System Operators, such as Central Energy Company, railway, etc. It will take about 9 months to disconnect them from boiler houses before the start of the heating season 2022/2023. Therefore, the preparatory work has already begun in cooperation with the local authorities. The action plan for this period includes the development of project documentation, the allocation of appropriate funding by the city, and the network strengthening itself. During this time, the energy workers plan to do the first stage of preparatory work for the heating season 2022/2023.

Let us recall that following the decision of the City Council session, it is planned to disconnect more than 1,000 buildings from centralized heating in different areas of Dnipro over the next two years.