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To measures to reduce environmental pollution, save fuel, develop cogeneration, use renewable energy resources on a large scale, and assess their efficiency are very important (Jovanovic, Turanjanin, Bakic, Pezo & Vucicevic B, 2011; Pezzini, Gomis-Bellmunt & Sudrià-Andreu, 2011; Melentiev, 1987; Melentiev, 1993; Twidell & Weir 1990). Besides, cogeneration and wind power industry are the most significant technologies for saving fuel and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Russia and other countries apply methods for separation of fuel and financial costs in the energy sector mainly at cogeneration (combined heat and power production) plants (CPs) in order to assess their efficiency and fix heat and electricity tariffs (Alexanov, 1995; Arakelyan, Kozhevnikov & Kuznetsov, 2006; Gitelman & Ratnikov, 2008; Kharaim, 2003; Kuznetsov, 2006; Malafeev, Smirnov, Kharaim, Khrilev & Livshits, 2003; Melentiev, 1987; Melentiev, 1993; Padalko & Zaborovsky, 2006; Popyrin, Denisov & Svetlov, 1989; Semenov, 2002). The problem of interrelated pricing of electric and heat energy is especially urgent for the countries that consume a lot of fuel for heat supply and have a high share of CPs in their energy systems. However, in this case it appears to be important to pay more attention to the assessment of the overall efficiency of energy supply systems.
The issue of separating total costs of cogeneration is highly topical not only for the energy sector, but also for other branches of industry producing several types of products. Moreover, a great number of methods for separating costs are applied in the energy sector and industry.
Development of methods for separating costs at CPs leads in particular to the following conclusion (Gitelman & Ratnikov, 2008; Kharaim, 2003; Malafeev, Smirnov, Kharaim, Khrilev & Livshits, 2003; Semenov, 2002):
- 1.
Development of market relations in the electric power industry and formation of competitive environment in the energy markets make it absolutely unacceptable to use strictly deterministic “technical” (thermodynamic) methods for price substantiation, since any separation of fuel costs fixes the main heat and electricity cost price components (fuel components) independently of the constantly changing price environment;
- 2.
Tariffs for electricity and heat generated at CPs should be formed only on the basis of economic (market) methods for allocation of total costs of CPs in accordance with goods (services) provided by CPs depending on the price environment that is formed in heat and electricity markets, sources of competitive threat and its scale;
- 3.
Allocation of CPs costs requires that the principle of equivalence between electricity and heat markets (Gitelman & Ratnikov, 2008) (equivalent equilibrium (Malafeev, Smirnov, Kharaim, Khrilev & Livshits, 2003)) be satisfied, since the use of combined generation technology involves no individual heat and power generation businesses. Here it is possible to speak just about the combined generation business proper, because the inefficiency of one decreases the efficiency of the other, so they can be only equally efficient or inefficient. And only a temporary imbalance is acceptable.