#EnergyWings: DTEK Dnipro Grids to install 10 nesting platforms for storks across the region
DTEK Dnipro Grids joined the environmental education project #EnergyWings launched by the DTEK Grids operating holding. The main goal is to preserve the white stork population in Ukraine and draw public attention to the biodiversity loss and environmental issues. Under the project, the company will install 10 nesting platforms for storks in 5 settlements across the Dnipropetrovsk region in September and October. Thus, the company protects birds from electric shock and minimizes the risks of emergency power outages for customers which could happen if a nest falls onto the power lines. The regional state administration joined the installation of one of these platforms.
Storks like to build their nests on utility poles, that’s why electricians install protective platforms. Nests weighing hundreds of kilograms pose a threat to both birds and a stable power supply to customers.
“DTEK is transforming its business in accordance with the New Strategy 2030, based on ESG principles, values and responsibility for progress in achieving the sustainable development goals of the UN Global Compact. We believe that business should contribute to the preservation of the wildlife that surrounds us. Since 2013, DTEK Dnipro Grids has installed over 170 safe nesting platforms for storks in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Under the #EnergyWings project, we will install another 10 platforms within a month in the Novomoskovsky, Nikopol and Dniprovsky districts of the region,” says Andrey Tereshchuk, General Director at DTEK Dnipro Grids.
The #EnergyWings project brings together the business, future generations of Ukrainians, contemporary art and all those who are not indifferent to the environmental and biodiversity protection. Deputy Chairman of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration Maxim Bespalchuk joined the installation of the platform in the village of Ivanovka in the Petrikov region, where the electricians moved a family of storks to a safe nest.
“It is our responsibility to take care of the nature. We support this eco-project for arranging safe stork nests. Such project will protect both birds from electric current, and village people from power interruptions,” says Maxim Bespalchuk, Deputy Chairman of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration.
In addition to platforms for storks, under the ornithological safety program, DTEK Dnipro Grids is installing wooden and metal nests for scops owls and the Red Book dove, which also settle on electric poles. The energy workers also install special covers on insulators and wires, as well as reflective bird diverters that make them safe for birds and eliminate the risk of power outages for customers.
Over the past 8 years, DTEK Grids has installed more than 250 nesting platforms in four regions of Ukraine, thus saving the lives of over 5,000 birds listed in the Bern Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats. This year, 122 nesting platforms for storks will be installed in three regions: Odesa, Kyiv, and Dnipro.
See our short video of how the energy workers make nesting platforms for storks here.