In 2020, DTEK Odesa Grids has installed 26 nesting platforms for storks across the region

Thermal power generation01 December 2020

Two platforms in summer and 24 in autumn. In such a way, Odesa power engineers protect birds from electrocution, and customers from power outages.

Such nesting platforms for storks are crucial in terms of environmental safety and emergency management.

“DTEK is a conscious business. We’ve been implementing the bird safety program since 2013. We need to install special platforms because storks often build their homes on electric poles. Nests weigh up to 500 kg, and pose a risk to both birds and the sustainable operation of the power supply system. We have installed 26 nesting platforms this year. Most of them are in the Nikolaevsky, Tatarbunarsky and Oknyansky Districts,” says Oleksands Fomenko, DTEK Odesa Grids CEO.

Such artificial nest platforms are basket-shaped made of metal rods. They are mounted on the electric poles above the electrical wires. This design prevents the heavy nest from sliding down on the line. It protects the nest from destruction, birds from electric shock, and lines from short circuits and unplanned outages.

To this date, DTEK has already installed 156 nest platforms for stork in Dnipropetrovsk Region, 12 in Donetsk Region, 41 in Kyiv Region, 26 in Odesa Region, and 5 in Kyiv. Next year the power engineers plan to install 122 platforms, 60 of them in Odesa Region.

According to the head of the company, this year DTEK Odesa Grids expands the bird safety program. Thus, in addition to the nest platforms for storks, the power engineers have started putting reflective diverters, and next year, they will place casings on insulators and wires.

“Installation of bird diverters is a worldwide practice. They are attached to overhead high-voltage lines to make them visible to birds in flight. Storks will be able to see obstacles in the dark and bypass them safely,” explains Yulia Lukasevich, Chief Environmental Protection Specialist of the DTEK Odesa Grids H&S Department.

In turn, the polymer casings for insulators and adjacent wires prevent birds from contacting live parts. They are lightweight, durable, weatherproof, and their service life is up to 40 years.

As previously reported, DTEK Grids won the highest award for environmental policy, which the company consistently implements in its activities. The Ukrainian Eco-Oscar was awarded by ecologists for the biodiversity conservation project - protection of white storks from electrocution. Distribution System Operators have been installing protective bird platforms on electric poles since 2013. DTEK Odesa Grids joined the project this year.