DTEK Dnipro Grids to install more than 700 bird diverters

DTEK Dnipro Grids agrees with ornithologists on the installation places for bird protection devices. These are the territories of nature reserves (including the Bulakhovsky estuary), numbering hundreds of rare and endangered bird species. As well as places near their feeding areas and on the routes of seasonal migration.

To avoid collisions of birds with wires, the energy workers place reflective bird diverters on 35 kV high-voltage lines. These are bright orange moving parts made of special plastic, which are resistant to electric current and ultraviolet radiation. Such devices are mounted on overhead lines every 10 meters. By rotating around the wire, they reflect light and make the wires more visible to birds, including in the twilight and fog. Such technologies are successfully practiced all over the world and can prevent the death of the birds, as well as to avoid failures in networks and short circuits of power lines.

“Biodiversity conservation is one of the activities of our company, which is in line with the DTEK-2030 strategy based on ESG principles, values and business responsibility for progress in achieving the sustainable development goals of the UN Global Compact. Now, 1,265 such devices have already been installed on the lines across Dnipropetrovsk Region. This year we will mount 714 more diverters in the Tsarichansky, Magdalinovsky and Pavlogradsky Districts. We will also continue our initiatives to install platforms and artificial nests for white storks and other rare bird species,” says Andrii Tereshchuk, CEO of DTEK Dnipro Grids.

As previously reported, the company installed more than 160 safe nesting structures for white storks in the region, as well as more than 1,500 bird protection devices on high-voltage lines to preserve rare and endangered birds. These are not only bird diverters, but also special covers for insulators and wires, which make them safe for birds and eliminate the risk of power outages for customers. And they also install wooden and metal nests for scops owls and the Red Book stock dove, which are inclined to settle on poles. These initiatives of the company are in line with DTEK's 2030 strategy based on ESG principles, values and business responsibility for progress in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN Global Compact for the Conservation of Terrestrial Ecosystems.