Assessment of energy security of Ukraine in the implementation of renewable energy technologies

Tetiana Hilorme, Doctor of Economics, Associate Professor, Leading Researcher

Oles Honchar Dnipro National University

Lilia Nakashidze, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Senior Researcher, Leading Researcher, Scientific Research Institute of Energy Efficient Technologies and Materials Science

Oles Honchar Dnipro National University

Iryna Liashenko, Candidate of Philology, Associate Professor Ukrainian State University of Science and Technologies

energy security renewable energy

In today's challenges, energy security of the country is a global problem. The implementation of new engineering and design solutions in energy supply systems, which provide for the integrated use of renewable energy sources, will help to solve an important economic, scientific and technical problem of reducing the consumption of traditional fuel and energy resources for Ukraine.

Energy security is closely related to energy independence - it is the degree of independence of the country's leadership in the formation and implementation of policy, independent of external and internal interference and pressure [1].

There is a growing interest in the use of non-conventional renewable energy sources in various sectors of the economy all over the world. The driving force of this process are changes in the energy policy of countries with structural reorganization of the fuel and energy complex in connection with the environmental situation and the transition to energy and resource saving technologies in energy, industry, housing and communal services, etc.

The main directions of improvement of energy efficiency and realization of energy saving potential are not only the mentioned technological modernization of energy supply systems [2]. The use of renewable energy sources under the condition of technological modernization of energy supply implies the elimination of energy inefficient products and the implementation of the latest technologies, equipment, measuring devices and systems. This contributes to the growth of energy efficiency and energy saving.

Review of recent research and publications

General scientific opinions on energy security management among scientists should be divided into three functional parts. These are: approaches to defining the concept of energy security, approaches to defining its components, and approaches to energy security management at the theoretical level and in real practice.

As for the scientific approaches of the first group, it should be noted that there is quite a wide range of views among them. However, in most cases this group of scientific approaches defines the concept of energy security management in one way or another, defining and describing the components of this system [3].

At the same time, there are three such groups of components:

- Energy security management - as a combination of interrelated measures [4];

- energy security management - as a combination of functional components [5];

- energy security management - as a combination of security subjects and instruments of their activity [6].

In general, it should be noted that these scientists and researchers unjustifiably use the semanteme "system" in their definitions. The use of "system" gives the impression that the definitions have comprehensiveness, complexity and a certain integrity [7].

This allows to some extent to make the definitions shorter and more meaningful, but on the other hand this approach generates ambiguity of concepts and their conceptual generic relations. In most cases, such definitions cannot be fully and consistently understood without additional interpretation of the context in which these definitions are given [8]. Thus, from the semantic point of view, the definitions included in the definitions of the first approach cannot serve as a basis for understanding the principles of the structure and functioning of the energy security system.

In contrast to the first group of approaches to the definition of "energy security", the second group consists of definitions based on the semantics of "system" in the interpretation of the essence of energy security management.

In order to define the concept of "energy security", representatives of the second group use, in particular, general system principles and characteristics [9]. However, it should be noted that most of the definitions of this group are based on stereotypical systemic formulations.

This means that the definition is based on one of the classical definitions of the system and the predicate of the system is changed to energy security [10]. In general, this should not be considered incorrect, but in this case, the peculiarities of the energy security system as a kind of social system may not be fully taken into account.

The third group of approaches to interpreting the nature of the energy security system is the most difficult to study. The third group includes studies in which the energy security system is not a direct object of research, but is analyzed as a certain component of the general concept of security [11]. In this case, the system building in the field of energy security is considered through the prism of the results of the system building of other levels of security [12]. These areas of scientific research include the theory of security of social systems [13], the theory of security of people, society, civilization [14], and a synergistic approach to the creation and functioning of security systems [15].

Problem statement

The purpose of the article is to determine the indicators of effective assessment of energy security in the implementation of renewable energy technologies based on SWOT analysis.

Main material and results

High technical and economic performance and stable operating parameters of power equipment can be achieved by integrated use of solar and wind energy for combined generation of heat and electricity with their accumulation. One of the factors that impede the widespread use of renewable energy sources is the lack of technical solutions and technological schemes for their implementation, economically acceptable for the middle band. Considering the significant financial costs for the construction of a power supply system with the combined use of renewable energy sources, it is very important to develop correct methods for their calculation, taking into account the initial data of a particular user, which will help to minimize the total cost. Otherwise, there is a high probability of unsatisfactory operation of the energy supply system, which will result in additional costs for its re-equipment.

A common point that unites different approaches to the construction of indicators is a set of certain threats to the energy supply of the enterprise. At the same time, it is necessary, according to the authors, to examine the influence of the external and internal business environment on the determination of energy security by means of SWOT analysis.

The architecture of the created model includes the following levels: data loading and processing; data analysis; SWOT modeling; forecasting.

The first level provides the ability to load data by manual input, then edit it to eliminate data redundancy or add new data. The next step is to prepare the data for analysis. Various software products can be used at this stage. According to the authors, the most convenient and inexpensive is MS Excel.

The second level provides the possibility of mutual analysis of pairs of such indicators: Strengths - Opportunities (S-O); Strengths - Threats (S-T); Weaknesses - Opportunities (W-O); Weaknesses - Threats (W-T).

The third level provides tools for building a SWOT analysis model.

The fourth level implements predictions based on the created SWOT model.

This model fulfills the main characteristics of the model, which is designed to help the decision maker to identify critical technologies of the studied industry. The main goal of the created model is the efficiency of identification of justified critical technologies.

The most important characteristics, according to the research, were identified (Table 1).

Table 1

Identification of strong characteristics in the innovative development of Ukraine in the energy security system

Source: developed by the authors