Congratulations on Power Engineer's Day. From Then until Today

Since 1993, on December 22, Ukraine has been celebrating Power Engineer’s Day, which is also observed by some countries of the region (Russia, Kirgizstan, Armenia, and Belorus). This is the time when we’d like to thank those who are involved in the energy sector for bringing power to our homes and businesses.

Since long ago, the mankind has depended on the power of engines to be able to build housing, do farming and develop new territories. In the same way, the contemporary life cannot be imagined without electricity and heating. The comfort we now take for granted, just as the further development of human thought, is inseparably linked with the invention of electricity and the use of energy.

The electrical power industry plays a crucial role in the energy sector as it provides the basis for the technological advancements and the rise of productivity in all the fields of production. The primary task of the industry is to meet the need of businesses and population in energy by producing and distributing electrical power. For many years it was predominantly done through the network of thermal, hydro, and nuclear power generation plants. These days, the electrical power industry’s landscape is changing as more and more electrical power is being generated through renewable sources like wind, solar energy and biomass.

Practical Application of Electrical Power: How It Began

The practical application of electricity began in the middle of the nineteenth century, when the connection was established between the different forms of energy and their mutual transformations: thermal and mechanic, electrical and thermal, electrical and chemical, electrical and magnetic forms of energy.

The first steps in the practical application of electricity were made in the fields that did not require much electrical power, particularly in telegraphy, telephony, distance control, etc. However, a wider usage of electricity was only made possible with the development of an efficient source of electric current, the electric generator.

Advancement of Electricity in the Former USSR Countries

At the end of the nineteenth century the energy sector of our region (former Russian Empire) was based on generating “steam power” in the food industry, manufacturing and metal processing.

Typically, it meant utilizing the local fuels like firewood, coal, peat, oil, kerosene, etc., which made up 80 per cent of the region’s energy balance. In 1887, a small locomobile power plant was built in Moscow. Shortly after, the first steam-turbine power plant, which produced 1470 kWh, was erected there. At the same time the first power plants were opened in Kiev, Lvov, and a few other Ukrainian cities.

The electrical power plants of that time were isolated and provided electricity to a small number of consumers. As for the electricity cost, in 1914 an hour’s work of a light bulb cost 5 kopeks, and of a street lantern – 17 kopeks (an average monthly salary in the industry sector amounted to 27 roubles).
With only two small power supply systems (those in Moscow and Baku) functioning in the country, the electricity needs of the big cities like Moscow, Petersburg, Kharkov, Samara, Kiev, and Riga could not be satisfied, let alone those of smaller towns and villages. Before 1917 the yearly output of the region’s energy industry was evaluated at 12.8 kWh per capita.

In the following years the region’s (then USSR) energy sector showed a substantial growth, reaching the electricity production of 26.3 billion kWh in 1935, and 48.3 billion kWh in 1940. Yet, the 1941 war had a negative impact on this sector, bringing down the electrical power production to 29.1 billion kWh in 1942.

The pre-war levels of electricity generation were somewhat restored in 1945, with the industry’s yearly output of 43.3 billion kWh. In the following fifteen years the sector showed further growth, increasing the electricity output to 300 billion kWh. In 1985 this number rose to 1544 billion kWh, with a total electricity generation capacity of 315 million kW (compared to 11.2 million kW in 1940).

Ukraine’s Electrical Power Industry Nowadays

Ukraine's Power Generation Chart

Today the electrical power industry of Ukraine is mostly reliant on thermal and nuclear power plants (45 and 46 per cent of the electricity production respectively). The remaining market is shared by the hydropower plants (7 per cent), and the power plants utilizing the renewable sources of energy (2 per cent). The total electricity generation capacity is 54.5 million kW, and the total length of the electricity distribution lines is over 1 million km.

Having a vast experience in providing electrical power solutions for diagnostics and evaluation of cable system reliability to the world’s top power engineering companies, we at KEP (KharkovEnergoPribor) know how challenging and demanding the work in this sector is. The KEP’s team wishes all the best to the electrical power engineers around the world! We highly value your expertise and dedication, and do our best to make your job as easy and safe as possible.

Alexei Tiatiushkin
Marketing manager
KharkovEnergoPribor Ltd.
marketing@keppowertesting.uk
http://www.kep.ua