The share of local fuel types used in the housing and communal services of the Vitebsk region has increased threefold over ten years.

The share of local fuel (LF) utilisation in the housing and communal services system of the Vitebsk region has tripled over 10 years to 68%, the Department of Housing and Communal Services of the Regional Executive Committee informed a BELTA correspondent.

Work on increasing LF consumption volumes and implementing boilers with a capacity of 1-5 MW, equipped with mechanised loading of wood chips and milled peat, has been systematically carried out at the housing and communal services enterprises of the Vitebsk region since 2007. At that time, LF utilisation in the region's fuel balance was 22%. Annually, due to the reconstruction of gas-fired boiler houses, the increase in LF utilisation reached 5-6%. In 2017, their share grew to 68%.

"The reconstruction of boiler houses in the region is financed by the regional budget (approximately Br2.7-3 million annually) and the co-financing of the republican budget for energy saving purposes, amounting to Br500-600 thousand per year. The cost of financial resources per 1 MW of commissioned capacity is about Br250 thousand," the specialists noted.

In total, over 10 years, 82 boilers with mechanised loading of wood chips and milled peat, with a total thermal capacity of 189 MW, have been commissioned in the Vitebsk region. Currently, each district centre of the region operates 2-3 boiler houses with medium-capacity boilers that use wood chips and milled peat for combustion.

For 2017, the plan includes the conversion of four boiler houses to LF with the installation of 7 boilers with a total capacity of 18 MW. Of these, the "ZhBI" boiler house in the village of Andrievshchina (Orsha district) has already been commissioned after reconstruction, which will allow for a reduction in natural gas consumption by 1.6 million cubic meters, worth $300 thousand, by the end of the year. An additional chip-fired boiler has been installed at the combined "Postavy-1" boiler house. As a result, the use of natural gas at this boiler house has been completely eliminated, and the cost savings due to reduced consumption are expected to be $200 thousand by the end of the current year.

The reconstruction of two more facilities – the "Tsentralnaya" boiler house in the urban settlement of Kokhanovo (Tolochnsky district) and the "RAPT" boiler house in the town of Senno – will be completed by the end of the year.

Furthermore, the region's heating sector is undergoing systematic modernization of backup capacity operating on local solid fuels. This involves small boiler houses with a connected thermal load of up to 0.3 MW, where pellet-fired boilers are installed for automated operation without personnel. There are currently 25 such boiler houses in the region. Their reconstruction and modernization are also aimed at increasing the use of local types of fuel. Another result of this work will be enhanced reliability of heat supply to residential buildings and social facilities in the Vitebsk region.

The department also noted that over the past 8 years, communal enterprises in the region have acquired 13 chippers for wood chip production, enabling the housing and communal services enterprises to meet approximately 30% of the demand for this type of fuel using their own resources. The regional forestry association covers about 60% of the demand for wood chips, and other suppliers with the necessary equipment account for 10%.