The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine took part in the opening of a solar power plant in Chernobyl

On Saturday, April 12, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksandr Lytvynenko, together with the Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Svitlana Hrynchuk, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Spain to Ukraine Ricardo López-Araújo Hago and the head of the State Agency of Ukraine for the Management of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone Hryhoriy Ishchenko participated in the official opening ceremony of the solar power plant at the industrial site of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

The Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, Svitlana Hrynchuk, emphasized that the solar power plant in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone was installed as part of Ukraine's cooperation with the Spanish government in the fight against climate change and the implementation of projects aimed at improving energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

«This project will be one of the recovery projects. We often talk about how Ukraine's recovery should be based on green principles, new technologies and renewable technologies, renewable energy. Therefore, renewable energy projects that we are implementing in the Exclusion Zone serve several important functions. Firstly, they ensure a stable supply of electricity to the facilities in the Exclusion Zone, including those where spent nuclear fuel is stored, which also require constant energy supply. This also means nuclear safety», - said Svitlana Hrynchuk

The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine expressed his gratitude to international partners for their support of Ukraine's energy sector, particularly the Government of Spain for its assistance in the implementation of the solar power plant project. He also extended his thanks to the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the State Agency for the Management of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, which ensured the timely construction and commissioning of the facility.

«Despite the constant massive shelling of energy facilities and infrastructure, which has been ongoing for over three years, Ukraine has managed to preserve not only its domestic energy system but also to swiftly minimize the threats to nuclear and radiation safety», - emphasized the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.

Oleksandr Lytvynenko, in particular, emphasized that Ukraine has gained invaluable experience in maintaining the resilience of its energy system and ensuring the country's functioning during the war. Therefore, under such conditions, the priority for strengthening the resilience of the country's energy system is the development of distributed generation and the promotion of renewable energy sources with the aim of decentralizing energy supply.

The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Spain to Ukraine, Ricardo López-Araújo Hago, emphasized that his country firmly condemns Russia's military aggression and will continue to support Ukraine in its Euro-Atlantic aspirations. The Ambassador concluded that Spain will continue to provide military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.

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The capacity of the solar power plant is 762 kWh of clean energy, which will be used to partially meet the needs of the city of Chernobyl and local enterprises.

The project, worth over 30 million UAH, was launched in 2019 and became possible thanks to the support of international partners. In particular, within the framework of the project «Targeted Environmental (Green) Investments» initiative, which Ukraine received from Spain.

Construction was suspended at the start of the full-scale invasion, but resumed in the fall of 2024 and has now reached its final stage.

Today, the solar power plant is fully ready for commissioning and has been connected to Ukraine's unified energy system. It consists of 2,244 monocrystalline solar modules covering an area of 13,000 square meters.