Photo Credit: Kiev Ukraine News Blog
Solar power development in the Ukraine will get a big boost by year-end with electricity generation at the 80 MW Okhotnykovo solar power plant in the Crimea set to reach 100,000 megawatt-hours (MWh). In addition to producing electricity from clean, renewable sources, the plant will reduce Ukraine’s CO2 emissions by 80,000 tons, according to a press release.
Solar power production is one aspect of Okhotnykovo’s overall project plan, which aims to use both wind and solar to generate some 2,000 MW of clean, renewable energy.
Ukraine is the world’s 12th largest market for energy with an installed capacity of 54 gigawatts. The country exports surplus generation to neighboring Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia and Slovakia.
The State Agency of Ukraine for Energy Efficiency and Energy Conservation (SAUEEEC) launched the Okhotnykovo project in 2010 with funds generated by selling carbon emissions offset credits to Japanese companies looking to offset their own emissions in an effort to meet greenhouse gas emission reductions targets agreed to under the Kyoto Protocol. Ukraine received nearly $400 million from Japan by doing so.
SAUEEEC’s is implementing the Ukrainian government’s ambitious national energy strategy, which calls for alternative energy to make up 30% of the country’s energy market by 2015.
The solar and wind farm will occupy the equivalent of 207 football fields when completed, providing enough power for some 20,000 households. Austria’s Activ Solar is managing the project. “Project of this scale means a radical change of solar energy development in Europe, while securing Ukraine’s position as renewable energy provider,” CEO Kaveh Ertefai commented.
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