State Agency for Exclusion Zone Management: foreign investors remain interested in building a huge solar park
The construction of a solar park in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone is obstructed, among other factors, by the absence of managerial decisions on part of the government
Foreign investors remain interested in building a 1 GW solar park in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, Viktor Petruk, Chairman of the State Agency for Exclusion Zone Management said in his commentary to Ukrainian Energy.
"The project exists, and interest in it is still there. I think that it will be implemented after the southern region will become oversaturated. We have applications… The French and the Japanese are interested. Managerial decisions allocating land plots for solar parks must be made by the government. It complicates the procedure somewhat, but it must be done," Mr. Petruk said.
As for the use of infrastructure required for electricity transmission, a potential investor will have to make a deal with Kyivoblenergo and Ukrenergo possessing power transmission lines and with Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant which manages the open distribution device.
"If investors will come around to build the [solar] station, they will find a common formula to use this device," Mr. Petruk added.
According to the official, several small solar power stations are currently under construction in the Exclusion Zone.
"As of today, only one megawatt was built. Another station is being built on the cooler pond, which will have some 10 MW. Still another 1 MW station is being built by the State Agency for Exclusion Zone Management with the funds from the Kyoto Protocol," Mr. Petruk noted.
In 2017, Ukrenergo estimated the cost of building solar park infrastructure in the Exclusion Zone at UAH 3 billion.
The project envisages construction of a new 330/110 kV substation in the vicinity of Chornobyl NPP, eleven 110/10 kV substations and approximately 54 km of 110 kV power transmission lines. The project’s feasibility study also includes installation of an electricity accumulation system.
