Up to 300 MW of wind power capacities could be introduced in Ukraine in 2019, which is at least twice more than in 2018, Board Chairman of the Ukrainian Wind Energy Association (UWEA) Andriy Konechenkov has said.
He said that currently wind farms are being built by Wind Parks of Ukraine LLC in Mykolaiv and Donetsk regions (about 50 MW). The DTEK Group in Zaporizhia region is building the first phase of the Prymorska Wind Farm (expected to be completed in the first half of the year), as well as the Orlovka Wind Farm. In Kherson region, Windkraft Ukraine is completing the construction of a 70 MW Overianivka Wind Farm, and the company is starting construction of a 163 MW Myrne Wind Farm, the head of the UWEA said.
According to the National Commission for Energy, Housing and Utilities Services Regulation of Ukraine (NCER), in 2018, 67.7 MW of wind farms were installed. In particular, the statistics of last year included the second stage of the Novotroyitske Wind Farm with a total capacity of 40.15 MW, built in 2017, but which obtained a feed-in tariff as early as 2018.
Some plants built last year were not taken into account by the NCER, since they obtained or will obtain a feed-in tariff this year, the UWEA said. For example, last year in Odesa region (the first project in wind power in this region), Turkey’s Guris Holding Co. built the Ovid Wind plant with a capacity of 32.4 MW. Due to the problems associated with obtaining different licenses, the launch is expected by the end of March.
According to the calculations of the association, the total number of projects currently under construction in Ukraine is 893 MW (those that have already received funding and for which contracts have been signed for the supply of wind turbines), including the Syvash Wind Farm project for 250 MW. Most of them will be implemented before the end of 2020, the head of UWEA said.
In addition, projects for the construction of a wind farm on 3.33 GW, in different regions are in the development stage. “Almost all of them are registered on the website of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine, that is, they are undergoing an environmental impact assessment procedure, which indicates the beginning of the investment process. Among them, by the way, there are a lot of small plants – 9, 13, 30, 60 MW each. These wind farms will not have negative impact on the operation of the power grid, as it is almost distributed generation,” Konechenkov said.
The further development of wind energy will depend on the final version of the law on green auctions, which is expected to be adopted in March, in particular, from the state-allocated quotas for the construction of renewable energy facilities.
