Ukraine, Germany to build wind farm in Chornobyl Exclusion Zone

The Ukrainian government and the German company NOTUS energy have agreed to jointly build a wind power plant in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, capable of providing electricity to almost 1,000 households.

All sides signed a memorandum of cooperation on the construction project on Sept. 11, according to Ukraine's Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources.

Chornobyl Exclusion Zone encompasses a 30-kilometer radius surrounding the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, which lies around 130 kilometers north of Kyiv. Most of the exclusion zone has remained abandoned since the Chornobyl nuclear disaster occurred in 1986.

Chornobyl nuclear disaster

The Chornobyl nuclear accident occurred on April 26, 1986, at around 1 a.m. when one of the plant’s nuclear reactors exploded during a planned test. The explosion forever marred the surrounding environment and contaminated a 150,000-square-kilometer swath of land in the nexus between Ukraine, Belaru…

The Kyiv IndependentHaley Zehrung

The project will bring investments and new jobs, contributing to Ukraine's energy independence, the development of green technologies, and the state's enrichment, the ministry wrote.

"Even before the full-scale invasion, we had strategic plans to transform the Chornobyl zone into a recovery zone. The war hasn't changed them, but temporarily suspended," said Deputy Ecology Minister Oleksandr Krasnolutskyi.

"The partnership with NOTUS energy is a positive example for international investors that the Exclusion Zone is an attractive and promising area for the development of renewable energy and other environmentally friendly technical solutions."

The announcement came amid German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock's fourth visit to Kyiv since the beginning of Russia's all-out war against Ukraine.

"One focus of Foreign Minister Baerbock's visit will therefore be on the measures being taken by Ukraine to ensure and protect (energy) supplies to the population, not least in the upcoming winter," Germany's Foreign Ministry wrote upon Baerbock's arrival.

"In the midst of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the area affected by the nuclear accident almost forty years ago may thus become a symbol of clean, climate-friendly energy, providing Kyiv with green electricity," the ministry added about the future wind farm.