Bullet-proof vests and bomb shelters: Wind farm switches on in Ukraine conflict zone

The world’s only wind farm built in a major active conflict zone officially opened on Monday, after construction staff spent nine months working in bullet proof vests and clocked a cumulative 300 hours in bomb shelters.

Phase 1 of the Tyligulska Wind Power Plant (WWP) opened just 100 kilometres from the frontlines of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, according to Ukrainian energy company DTEK.

The new plant opens at a critical time. Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure left millions without power over winter, destroying at least 40% of the country’s energy facilities.

DTEK says its facilities alone have been targeted 250 times, and 90% of the country’s wind generation and 50% of its solar remain in occupied regions.

Ukraine is now racing to strengthen its energy security ahead of next winter, when temperatures will dip below freezing.

The plans for Tyligulska were originally proposed in 2020 as part of DTEK’s green energy expansion, and ground was broken in late 2021. But the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 forced the evacuation of staff and equipment.

By the summer of 2022, work resumed with a crew of 650 people at its peak.

The plant’s 19 Vestas EnVentus turbines have an installed capacity of 114 MW, generating up to 390,000 kWh, or enough to power 200,000 households a year. In Phase II, DTEK plans to add up to 64 turbines to raise the farm’s potential output to 500MW, which would make it Eastern Europe’s largest wind farm.

DTEK says Phase II will cost $450 million, and save an estimated 400,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

“With projects like Tyligulska, we can build Ukraine back greener and cleaner and become a key partner in Europe’s energy future,” said DTEK CEO Maxim Timchenko in a statement.

“And by developing an infrastructure based on distributed rather centralized generation, we create an energy supply that is more resilient and stable.

“DTEK is getting ready for the construction of stage II,” Timchenko added. “The company will continue to contribute to the implementation of Ukraine’s strategy to build 30 GW of RES capacity by 2030.”

“This project is very special because it was constructed mostly in times of war,” Henrik Monefeldt, regional head at FairWind, a company involved in the installation of wind turbines at the site, told Reuters.

“It has been strenuous for the guys, it has been interrupted multiple times – air alarms and missiles flying by. But … they have been so proud working on this for the simple fact that we are helping to supply energy to Ukraine.”

DTEK, owned by Ukraine’s wealthiest man, billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, is the country’s largest private energy producer. The company owns most of the country’s coal production and coal-fired power plants.

DTEK’s current renewable portfolio amounts to 1GW of solar and wind.

The company says it has invested more than UAH 890 million (over AU$36 million) in repairs to its thermal power plants since the beginning of the year. In May, seven DTEK Grid workers in the Dnipropetrovsk region received medals from Ukraine’s Minister of Defense, Oleksiy Reznikov, for their work rebuilding damaged energy infrastructure amid regular shelling.