Critique of Abandoning Power Plant Restoration
Energy expert Oleh Popenko has criticized proposals to abandon the restoration of Soviet-era combined heat and power plants (CHPPs) in favor of building new ones. He presented calculations showing significant economic benefits from repairing old facilities, specifically citing the Darnytsia CHPP. According to Popenko, restoring this plant would cost 700 million euros, a figure far lower than constructing new stations.
The Economic Logic of Refurbishment
The cost of building a new gas-fired power station ranges from 250,000 to 300,000 euros per megawatt of capacity, while a modern coal plant with filters can cost up to 550,000 euros per megawatt. A complete replacement of a facility on the scale of the Darnytsia CHPP with a new coal equivalent would amount to 1.2 billion euros. These numbers support the expert's view that refurbishing old units is ten times cheaper than new construction. This debate is crucial for Ukraine as it seeks to rebuild its energy infrastructure efficiently while managing limited financial resources.
Popenko also suggested that calls for new construction may have a corrupt element. He stated:
"For that kind of money, for 700 million, you could build a perfectly good new plant that would be environmentally clean... But no one will give Ukraine 700 million dollars now to restore a CHPP. And a CHPP that cannot be protected... no investor will come here. Forget about these mythical investors... It's all a fiction."- Oleh Popenko
The expert stressed the importance of restoring existing assets:
"We need to restore what we have. And, sorry, not to confuse anyone with these so-called experts and all the rest."- Oleh Popenko
Thus, Popenko emphasizes that economic rationale strongly supports a policy of refurbishing old CHPPs, which could be an effective solution for Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
This expert position highlights key issues in Ukraine's energy policy concerning economic stability and environmental security. In a context where the country faces significant energy challenges, restoring existing facilities may offer not only a cost-effective but also a quicker solution to meet energy needs. The potential risks of corruption in new, large-scale projects further call their feasibility into question.