GIZ_Consulting_Lviv – Support for the development of the district heating network in Lviv, Ukraine

As most post-soviet countries, Ukraine has a long history in using district heating (DH) and a widely spread district heating infrastructure in all major urban settlements. Natural gas still remains the dominant energy source for the district heating sector, while the interest in renewable heat sources is continuously rising. The European Union, many other countries and energy experts consider DH as a key technology for the transition to a renewable and future proof heat supply in urban areas and see also a great potential in the DH systems of the post-soviet countries. Hence, many initiatives are active to support a sustainable and future-proof development such as the project “Energy Efficiency District Lviv” and various success stories of the refurbishment of post-soviet DH systems prove the feasibility of it. To cope with these current challenges of DH in Lviv and the Ukraine, solutions to tackle technical problems of the DH system are not sufficient. It moreover requires a holistic approach taking all relevant aspects into account:

• Municipal energy planning to foster a sustainable and coordinated development of the city and therewith related the DH system and the cooperation of all relevant stakeholders
• A comprehensive evaluation of the overall technical system and its current condition (production, Pumping stations, high level transport pipe system, distribution and sub-networks, central/individual heat transfer stations, measurement and control system, …)
• Evaluation and optimization of the system operation (load dispatching, unit commitment/operation modes, emergency situations/malfunctions, optimization of system temperatures)
• Comprehensive education and capacity building of the staff of Lviv Teploenergo focusing on state of the art DH technology, software, suitable corporate restructuring
• Fostering the know-how exchange and networking withing the DH sector in the Ukraine in order to improve