Solar Panels Should Be Donated To Ukraine ASAP





Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has never been a normal war. From the beginning, the Russian army and its hired private army have targeted civilians. I won’t write here about the many horrendous things they have done to children, women, and men who were simply trying to live their lives, but one consistent target has been blowing up Ukraine’s electricity supply and heating supply. Power plants as well as electricity substations and transformers have been destroyed.

We are headed into winter, and having lived in that region for 11 years, I can assure you it will get very cold. Anyone who is without electric or gas heating will be struggling. And, despite the not-so-sunny season, that is why I’m publishing this plea. While large wind turbines may be a better fit for cheap electricity in winter in Ukraine, they take too long to install and require too much expertise. Solar panels can go up in days and help provide much needed electricity anywhere.

Russia is going to increase its attacks on electric power supply as it fails to win on the battlefield and as Ukrainian citizens face the natural threats of winter. Ukrainians need easy, decentralized, quick-to-install electricity generation equipment yesterday.

If you work at a solar power company, or have the ability to influence one, consider the marketing benefits of donating to Ukraine. Consider the lives on the line. Or launch a campaign to crowdsource the funding and make it a joint effort.

I was actually in Ukraine just about 9 years ago to present on clean energy, blogging, and CleanTechnica. I took these pictures at a power plant in Crimea that I got to tour:

Solar power plant in Crimea, Ukraine. Photo by Zachary Shahan | CleanTechnica.
Solar power plant in Crimea, Ukraine (currently occupied by Russia). Photo by Zach Shahan | CleanTechnica.

That sign captures the attitude and cultural energy of the people of Ukraine. They are some of the most hopeful, idealistic (in a good way), and positive people I have met — which is in some ways astounding considering their location and history. They deserve our support, and they deserve electricity this winter.



Chip in a few dollars a month to help support independent cleantech coverage that helps to accelerate the cleantech revolution!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Sign up for our daily newsletter for 15 new cleantech stories a day. Or sign up for our weekly one if daily is too frequent.
Advertisement
 
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.

CleanTechnica's Comment Policy


Zachary Shahan

Zach is tryin' to help society help itself one word at a time. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director, chief editor, and CEO. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about cleantech at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, and Curaçao. Zach has long-term investments in Tesla [TSLA], NIO [NIO], Xpeng [XPEV], Ford [F], ChargePoint [CHPT], Amazon [AMZN], Piedmont Lithium [PLL], Lithium Americas [LAC], Albemarle Corporation [ALB], Nouveau Monde Graphite [NMGRF], Talon Metals [TLOFF], Arclight Clean Transition Corp [ACTC], and Starbucks [SBUX]. But he does not offer (explicitly or implicitly) investment advice of any sort.

Zachary Shahan has 7853 posts and counting. See all posts by Zachary Shahan