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New supply line for power system repairs in Ukraine
Ukraine Energy infrastructure DTEK, Ukraine’s main electricity supply utility, reports that on 28 November Russia launched its 11th major attack against the country’s energy system since March this year. Information about the level of damage to DTEK facilities has been restricted for security reasons, but the European Commission and the US government have undertaken to supply up to €107m of equipment aid to restore power on a widespread basis. The EC will supply €62.8 million in equipment and materials to restore 1.8 GW of supply and ‘winterise’ power plants, while the USA will provide up to $46.1 million in control systems and transformers at thermal power plants. The consequences for Ukraine’s infrastructure since the invasion in February 2022, in particular for its power system, have been considerable, requiring a huge effort to repeatedly restore supplies.
Kurakhove thermal PP (Ukraine’s oldest
power station, opened in 1941) was badly damaged by Russian shelling a year ago, including the destruction of its cooling towers. Staff was evacuated and the machinery dismantled for transportation to other thermal PPs in the summer.
In the war so far there have been 198 individual missile and drone strikes against six DTEK TPPs; 90% of DTEK’s generation capacity had been damaged or destroyed as of July 2024. DTEK had rebuilt 60% of its pre-war capacity before the most recent attacks, including 15.7 million reconnections to Ukrainian households by DTEK engineers since the invasion. €208 million has been spent to restore and rebuild TPPs in the year to date – the figure is estimated to be €250 m by the year’s end – while €1.4 billion has been spent on wind, solar and battery assets.
Ukraine is now looking to partner with international financial institutions, foreign governments and equipment manufacturers to
accelerate the recovery of its energy system. Ukraine’s three operating nuclear power plants (NPPs) reduced their electricity generation on 28 November following these new attacks that further endangered nuclear safety during the military conflict, Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency said at the release of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s latest report, Update 262.
For a second time in less than two weeks, the Khmelnytskyy, Rivne and South Ukraine NPPs lowered their power levels as a precautionary step during widespread military activities in the country, while air raid alarms sounded at the three sites.
The operating NPPs have a total of nine reactors, all of which decreased output. One reactor, at the Rivne NPP, was disconnected from the grid. The NPPs continued to receive external electricity, though the Khmelnytskyy site lost the connection to two of its power lines.
New development in K-ion batteries Europe Energy storage
A breakthrough in materials science could help deliver a new generation of affordable batteries, according to a paper published by an international team of researchers led by chemists from the University of Glasgow. Together with battery testing experts at Helmholtz Institute Ulm they have implemented a material made from chromium and selenium in a potassium-ion battery. The discovery brings the batteries a step closer to becoming a viable alternative to lithium-ion systems, thanks to the abundant availability of potassium and the advantages of the batteries such as rapid charging. It is believed that the batteries could be cheaper and easier to manufacture in the future than lithium-ion batteries, opening up
applications including the storage of electrical energy generated from renewable sources. Dr Alexey Ganin, of the University of Glasgow’s School of Chemistry, is the paper’s lead author and the head of the Glasgow ElectroChemistry on Solids (GECOS) group. He commented: “Lithium-ion batteries have become widely adopted in devices from smartphones to electric cars in recent years, and are capable of excellent performance, but lithium is a relatively rare, and therefore strategically important, element. Potassium is a much more abundant material, and potassium-ion batteries have a lot of potential as an alternative method of storing and delivering large amounts electricity. Adopting potassium-ion batteries for stationary storage purposes could help free up lithium resources for use in more energy-intensive mobile
applications in the future.”
In the published paper the researchers show how their naturally-conductive chromium selenide cathode achieves high performance with less than 10 % carbon. Their prototype has a capacity of 125 milliamp-hours per gm, very close to its maximum theoretical capacity of 127 milliamp-hours per gm. The layered nature of the material allows potassium ions to travel more easily between the layers during charge and discharge. This allows the battery to maintain 85% of its capacity in laboratory conditions even when charged and discharged at high speed.
The next step is further research to identify an electrolyte which will help deliver improved performance in future refinements of the battery’s design.
Finland’s first offshore wind farm underway Finland Wind power
Work is now fully underway in Korsnäs, off the west coast of Finland, at what is being described as one of the most significant industrial projects in the country, its first commercial scale wind farm. It is located near Vaasa, will have a capacity of 1.3-2.5 GW, and potentially an annual electricity production of 5–7 TWh.
Construction is set to begin in the 2030s, but many steps remain before then. As planning is
crucial, the project is currently in its most important phase. “Geophysical surveys are being conducted to study the seabed, which provides critical input to the environmental impact assessment such as archaeological screening, highlighting of ground risks and data subsequent preliminary foundation design. This is a pre-requisite for further development of the offshore wind farm,” commented Klaus Nissen, Project director at
6 | November/December 2024 |
www.modernpowersystems.com
Vattenfall. Additionally bird and bat studies are being conducted along with the effects of ice conditions.
An Environmental Impact Assessment report is now being prepared together with Metsähallitus experts. Metsähallitus manages land and water areas of the Finnish state and selected Vattenfall in 2022 to build the Korsnäs wind farm. Its calculations will take into account the entire life cycle of the project.
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