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ABSTRACT
This article gives a qualitative and quantitative characterization of the current state of Russia’s heat supply system and analyzes its heat networks, pricing system, three-tiered management structure, and production capacities (the share of cogeneration and the structure of the industry according to type of heat producer). Two investment mechanisms to modernize the centralized heat supply systems are considered: concession agreements and the introduction of price zones based on the “alternative boiler plant” method. The article considers how the production and consumption of thermal energy can be balanced in the system and includes an estimate of the industry’s fuel consumption and financial balance. Changes in the patterns of heat consumption and production within the district heating system are presented. The article concludes by considering the set of problems that must be solved to avoid serious problems in the future.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. Nekrasov et al., Citation2011, p. 30.
2. Standard fuel is used to calculate a unit of fossil fuel. The main indicator is the specific heat of combustion. In Russia, the caloric value of 1 kg of standard fuel is typically 29.3 megajoules (7,000 kcal). The concept of standard fuel is used to compare the costs of different thermal power installations. This value, g, is expressed in grams of standard fuel required to produce 1 kilowatt-hour of electric energy and is related to the efficiency η of the power installation by the formula g = 860/7η. Standard fuel is also used to calculate the fuel balance or total energy balance of an industry or country. The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (Macmillan Publishers, 1973).—Trans.
3. According to Bashmakov (Citation2004), in the mid 2000s, 485 units functioned alongside manufacturing CHPPs. Since then, several CHPPs have been built within the energy system and for specific manufacturing enterprises, while other CHPPs have been shut down or excluded from the unified energy system.
4. Note that only 40 percent of the electricity output of CHPPs is produced via cogeneration.
5. Form 1-TEP “Svedeniia o snabzhenii teploenergieii” is used by Rosstat to evaluate the distribution of thermal energy generation. The report is submitted by legal entities, local governments, organizations supplying the population, and government-financed organizations, including organizations renting capacities for the provision of services (available at http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_52009/6232c23a7070f09b8c014719b3f8d7973ce5472c/).—Trans.
6. “Modernizatsiia teplovykh setei: zadachi i prioritety” (available at https://aqua-therm.ru/articles/articles_265.html; accessed on July 9, 2019).
7. Statistical form of Rosstat 1-TEP.
8. Federal Law No. 190-FZ “O teplosnabzhenii,” July 27, 2010 (amended on July 29, 2018).
9. Available at http://www.minstroyrf.ru/press/proveden-pervyy-kompleksnyy-analiz-kontsessionnykh-soglasheniy.
10. Available at http://gorodsreda.ru/upload/iblock/097/kontsessii_05.04.18.pdf.
11. Federal Law No. 279-FZ “O vnesenii izmenenii v Federal’nyi zakon ‘O teplosnabzhenii’ i otdel’nye zakonodatel’nye akty Rossiyskoi Federatsii po voprosam sovershenstvovaniia sistemy otnoshenii v sfere teplosnabzheniia,” July 29, 2017 (available at http://kremlin.ru/acts/bank/42239).
12. The “alternative boiler plant” is the name of a new method for calculating heat prices in the thermal energy market. It is used to evaluate price relations between heat market participants. It does not refer to the building of physical boiler plants. In the literature, the method is also referred to as the “alternative boiler house.”—Trans.
13. These are available at http://www.ipem.ru/files/files/research/20180827_opinion_alternative_heating.pdf. For a comparison of tariffs and alternative boiler plant prices using the calculator available on the website of the Ministry of Energy see https://instrument-ak.minenergo.gov.ru.
14. 15Available at http://www.tplusgroup.ru/org/mordova/news/single/item/pravitelstvo-odobrilo-perekhod-uljanovska-k-altkote.
15. Report on the state of thermal energy and supply in the Russian Federation for 2015–2016 (available at https://minenergo.gov.ru/node/10850; accessed on August 20, 2019).
16. Available at https://www.vedomosti.ru/partner/articles/2017/05/24/691270-otoplenie-20.
17. A power purchase agreement is a mechanism for guaranteeing return on investment in the electric power industry by increasing the price of electricity to fund new projects.
18. Available at http://kuzpress.ru/city/28–05–2019/67841.html.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
V.V. Semikashev
V.V. Semikashev, candidate of economic sciences, is affiliated with the Institute of Economic Forecasting, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow.E-mail: [email protected]. All statistical data, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the reports of the Ministry of Energy of Russia on the state of the heat supply. The author is one of the developers of these reports. The primary data are taken from the statistical forms of Rosstat.