Energy Efficiency of the Ukrainian Economy by Types of Economic Activity

The article is concerned with assessing and analyzing the energy efficiency of the Ukrainian economy by types of economic activity. The study analyzes the place of Ukraine among other countries according to international rankings (indices): the Energy Transition Index, the Trilemma Index of the World Energy Council (WEC), the International Energy Security Risk Index. It is found that Ukraine’s positions in international rankings determine a number of interrelated problems of energy, economic and environmental development of the country, among which one of the major ones is the high energy intensity of GDP. The dynamics of energy intensity of GDP in some countries of the world and in Ukraine is analyzed. A matrix for estimating the energy efficiency of economies of countries (groups of countries) according to the criteria of direction and intensity of changes and the level of energy intensity of GDP is proposed. It is examined what structural changes occurred in the energy sector and economy of Ukraine by the type of continuity of the production process and the level of energy intensity in the final consumption of fuel and energy resources (FER) and production output. The specific weight of characteristics of groups of foreign economic activity of Ukraine in the final consumption of FER and production output is analyzed. The related indices are computed and directions of structural shifts in foreign economic activity in final consumption of FER and production output are determined. A general characterization of consistency of structural shifts in final consumption of FER and production output due to foreign economic activity and their groups in Ukraine is formed. The carried out study allowed to determine that the high energy intensity of Ukraine’s GDP is a consequence of the peculiarities of the structure of the national economy, shifted towards more energy-intensive industries and technological lag of most sectors of the economy from the level of developed countries. It is determined that, in general, in the structure of the economy of Ukraine there were coordinated minor changes in the final consumption of FER and production output. However, in parts of the group of foreign economic activity related to industries with a continuous type of production process with high and medium energy intensity, there were significant uncoordinated negative structural changes both in the final consumption of FER and in production output. Some increase in energy efficiency of the national economy was caused by a reduction in production volumes in highly energy-intensive industries with a continuous production cycle. Thus, despite the high rate of decline in the energy intensity of GDP in Ukraine, its energy intensity remains one of the highest in the world (exceeding the world average by 2.1 times), which determines the unsatisfactory energy efficiency of the economy

The Technical and Economic Aspects of Creating a Subsector for the Production of Synthetic Liquid Fuels in Ukraine

The article proves that today Ukraine finds itself in a situation where it depends solely on imported supplies of light oil products to meet its motor fuel needs, which is unacceptable from the point of view of the country’s energy and national security, and the solution to this problem lies in the plane of organization of motor fuel production from the country’s own natural resources. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the technical and economic foundations for creating a synthetic motor fuel subsector in Ukraine. To achieve this aim, the authors define the classification of alternative motor fuels; provide a comparative description of the energy content and scope of use of different types of motor fuels, and also provides comparative characteristics of synthetic along with the best grades of natural oil; assess the compliance of synthetic gasoline and diesel fuel with the Euro-4 standard; considers the technical-operational advantages of synthetic analogues of oil fuel over other alternatives. Based on the carried out analysis, the article proves that, given the limited resource capabilities of Ukraine’s motor fuel production from oil and natural gas, the production of synthetic liquid motor fuel (SLMF) from coal raw materials should be recommended for development in the country; the raw material base for the production of synthetic liquid fuel is researched. The article also analyzes the peculiarities of methods and specific technologies for producing synthetic liquid motor fuel from coal and determines that the technology of synthesizing synthetic liquid motor fuel using the Fischer-Tropsch method with preliminary production of synthesis gas by steam-oxygen gasification of coal is advisable for development in Ukraine. Taking this into account, the resource and product balance of the full cycle of synthetic liquid fuel production is formed, a general production scheme of the industry subsector of SLF in Ukraine is developed, technical-economic characteristics of the national and regional industrial complexes for the production of SLF are presented, and the structure of the subsector for the production of SLF in the country is proposed

The Substantiation of Priority Directions for the Structural and Technological Modernization of the Electricity Generation Sector

The article substantiates the necessity of the structural and technological modernization of the electricity generation sector of Ukraine in view of the promising directions of technological development of modern energy and the production sufficiency of domestic power engineering. A methodical approach to the selection of priority directions for structural and technological modernization of the Ukrainian electricity generation sector is proposed. The structural shifts in electricity consumption in the country are investigated. The production and consumption of electricity in the country, the specifics of regulation of daily “semi-peak” and “peak” loads, as well as seasonal fluctuations during the year are analyzed. The methods of base-load provision in the united energy system of Ukraine (UES), the level of flexibility of various types of power plants, the distribution of capacities for base-load provision in the UES by types of energy generation are analyzed. Comparison of the main recommended and actual parameters of the energy generation sector based on the data of 2016 is made, and the existence of significant unused reserves of electric power generation is proved. The possibility for optimizing the structure of the energy generation fleet is justified. The main structural measures for eliminating the problems of the national generation of electric power are identified. A comparative structural and technological characteristic of the sphere of electric energy generation is developed. There constructed a matrix of the positioning of technologies for generation of electric power by the adjusted operating expenses and capital investments as well as a matrix of comparison of technologies for generation of electric power by level of their development and level of market development. Comparison of advanced technologies for thermal generation of electric power until 2035 is made. There justified the choice of the list of technologies for electric power generation, which are expedient to introduce at Ukrainian power stations