Svitlana Grynchuk opens solar power plant in Chornobyl

Svitlana Grynchuk, Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, together with the Ambassador of Spain to Ukraine Ricardo López-Aranda Jagu, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine Oleksandr Lytvynenko and Head of the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management (SAEZM) Hryhoriy Ishchenko, opened a new green energy facility in Chornobyl - a photovoltaic power plant.

"The project worth more than UAH 30 million was launched in 2019 and was stopped with the start of the full-scale invasion. But in the autumn of 2024, the process reached the finishing line. Today, the solar plant is fully ready for commissioning and is connected to the integrated power system of Ukraine. It consists of 2,244 single-crystal solar modules covering an area of 13,000 square metres," said Svitlana Grynchuk.

According to her, the plant is a success that continues the ambitious plan to develop renewable energy in the exclusion zone. And most importantly, green generation in Chornobyl is an opportunity to turn the territory of the past tragedy into a centre of clean energy generation and sustainable development.

"We would like to express our special gratitude to the Government of Spain for its support in implementing this project. Spain has a plan to switch to 70% green energy in the economy by 2030 and supports us on our way to energy efficiency. This country is a key financial partner in the creation of the new solar plant. The construction was funded by the Government of Spain for greenhouse gas emission quotas under the Kyoto Protocol. This is an extremely important and timely investment in our green energy," said Svitlana Grynchuk.

The Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine stressed that despite the constant massive shelling of energy facilities and infrastructure that has been ongoing for more than three years, Ukraine has managed to preserve not only the national energy system but also to minimise threats to nuclear and radiation safety.

The Minister thanked the team of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources for ensuring the processes of financing and monitoring compliance with environmental standards, the team of SAEZM and enterprises under its management, for coordinating and implementing this project.

Svitlana Grynchuk also got acquainted with the results of the implementation of another area of our cooperation with partners - an automated system for monitoring the non-proliferation of radioactive contamination. It was implemented with the support of the European Union to modernise the stationary radiometers for controlling road transport and cargo at the checkpoints that were destroyed during the occupation of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone. Now our cargo inspection technologies are up to date.

The Minister inspected the consequences of the russian attack on the NSC Arch. Work is underway to assess the damage, find effective solutions and plan to restore the Arch's functionality.