OREANDA-NEWS. June 05, 2012.  DTEK’s employees will receive the State Science and Technology Awards of Ukraine for 2011 for two scientific papers on coal production and thermal generation. The respective Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 329/2012was signed on 18 May.

 The first research ‘Advanced Technologies of Complex Development of Coal Deposits of Ukraine in the Geological Conditions of Thin and Ultra-Thin Seams’ was prepared by a scientific team, comprised of the representatives of the National Mining University, DTEK and the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry.

 The authors have presented the first comprehensive scientifically grounded programme that helps raise efficiency and safety of coal mining in complex conditions of thin and ultra-thin seams, improve competitiveness of the produced coal in the international markets, reduce the negative environmental impact, contribute to the development of coal-mining regions and improvement of the welfare of their population. 

 The model described in the scientific paper has already been introduced at DTEK Pavlogradugol and DTEK Mine Komsomolets Donbassa. Consequently, the efficiency, as well as growth of salaries, tax payments and social investments at the enterprises considerably exceed the Ukraine’s average. It is considered expedient to roll out DTEK’s experience to other coal companies in Ukraine, since about 80% of coal reserves in Ukraine lie in thin and ultra-thin seams.      

 The following representatives of the coal business of DTEK received the 2011 State Award diplomas:    Mr Artur Martovitskiy, the General Director of DTEK Pavlogradugol Public Joint-Stock Company, Technical Science Ph.D; Mr Aleksandr Kopylov, the Operations Director of DTEK Pavlogradugol PJSC; Mr Yuriy Cherednichenko, Head of Technical Development Department of Coal Production Division of DTEK; Mr Anatoliy Demchenko, the Director of Pavlogradskaya Mine of DTEK Pavlogradugol PJSC; Mr Viktor Chervatyuk, the Director of Samarskaya Mine of DTEK Pavlogradugol PJSC, Technical Science Ph.D; Mr Konstantin Vyalyy, the General Director of DTEK Mine Komsomolets Donbassa PJSC; and Mr Valeriy Grechushkin, Deputy General Director of DTEK Mine Komsomolets Donbassa PJSC.

 The scientific paper ‘Design of New Types and Upgrade of Operating Generating Units for Thermal Power Plants’ was prepared by employees of the Electrodynamics Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Promenergoresurs Company, Electrotyazhmash Plant, DTEK, and Elta Inter-Regional Electricity and Energy Association. This research helps tackle the significant scientific-technical challenge: restoration of generators, extending their service life under the high wear and tear conditions. From 2008 to 2010, the generators upgrading solution was tested at Zuivska and Kurakhovska TPPs of DTEK Skhidenergo during the power units retrofits. It resulted in a higher capacity and efficiency of power units and their improved environmental safety. The economic effect at three power units of Zuivska and Kurakhovska TPPs only will exceed UAH 1 billion in the next 15 years of operation. Over 40 similar generating units at Ukrainian TPPs require an urgent upgrade.      

 Mr Viktor Bychik, the Deputy Director for Large Projects of DTEK and Mr Anatoliy Borichevskiy, the Chief Engineer of Kurakhovska TPP (DTEK Shidenergo) are among the authors of the paper.

 "We are proud that the scientific achievements of our employees have been recognized by the state. DTEK is implementing a large-scale programme of cooperation with academic scientific bodies, which help tackle the issues of mine gas drainage, occupational safety and health protection of miners, as well as labour productivity growth. In 2011, the Company allocated over UAH 65 million for the programme implementation. Equipment upgrades are a pressing issue, especially at the electricity generating and distributing enterprises, since the major part of the equipment is heavily worn out and in a critical condition. It is important to apply the state-of-the-art scientific developments to raise the power supply reliability. In 2012, we plan to double our investments – up to UAH 8 billion - in the production development in order to retrofit the capacities and improve industrial safety and operational efficiency. Cooperation with scientific community helps us address those challenges most efficiently," emphasized Yuriy Ryzhenkov, Chief Operating Officer of DTEK.

 In 2009, DTEK’s specialists also received the State Science and Technology Award for their works on TPP turbine upgrading.