Materiały konferencyjne SEP 2023

PROSPECTS FOR THE DIVERSIFICATION OF THE COAL MINES AT THE PRESENT STAGE Inna Slobodiannykova Institute of Geotechnical Mechanics named by N. Poljakov of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Dnipro ABSTRACT: The article examines the main areas of diversification for coal mines. It is shown that, taking into account the specifics of mining production, the most rational energy orientation of such solutions, namely the repurposing of coal mines into low-power thermal energy complexes. This idea combines within the framework of a single mining and energy complex the processes of extraction of carbon-containing raw materials and their processing into thermal and electrical energy with the simultaneous elimination of the absolute majority of intermediate technological operations, which open up the possibility of significantly increasing of economic efficiency, environmental cleanliness and safety of the entire complex works, and the generation of electricity based on heat consumption allows to reach a fairly high efficiency – about 80%, which is impossible today for potent power plants. KEYWORDS: coal mines, diversification, low-power thermal energy complexes, alternative energy sources. The world leading countries determined the production decarbonization and green energy as the further path of their development. The agreement, adopted in Paris in December 2015, unites the efforts of approximately 195 countries around the world to curb climate change. The Paris Agreement aims to intensify the global fight against the climate change threat in order to limit the increase in the Earth's temperature much lower than 2°C compared to the pre- industrial level [1]. As you know, one of the main sources of CO 2 entering the atmosphere is burning of carbon-rich fossil fuels, primarily coal. Therefore, in the plans of most EU countries, by 2038 – the complete cessation of the coal usage for the electricity production. Ukraine is no exception, in April 2016 it became a signatory of the Paris Agreement [2], and at the beginning of 2020, the Ministry of Energy presented the Concept of "green" energy transition of Ukraine by 2050 [3]. The main focus is on gradually reducing the coal use in energy production. In addition, difficult mining and geological conditions, depletion of formations and reserves, as well as the high cost of coal pushed the coal industry to accept this measure. Therefore, the transition to alternative and renewable energy sources is relevant for our state. For Ukraine, this vector of development determines the inevitable diversification of the activities of domestic coal industry enterprises, associated with the reorientation of their main activity to the complex processing of carbon-rich raw materials using highly efficient energy technologies. In general, at the current stage, the following nine European countries have restructured the industry by liquidating unprofitable enterprises and thereby reducing production volumes: Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Spain, Slovakia, Slovenia and Great Britain. Restructuring of the coal industry includes hidden reserves in various areas of activity of coal enterprises, however, in foreign countries; they were not specifically identified, detected