Solar kilowatts in the middle of the city: Kyiv high-rise building turned into a powerful green power plant
DTEK Kyiv Grids has connected a rooftop solar power plant (SPP) in Troyeshchyna to the grid. The Avrora Term Company built it in almost two years. This is the first industrial solar power plant in Ukraine built on the rooftop of an apartment building. It consists of 1200 solar panels and covers an area of over 4 thousand square meters.
The new SPP is located at 30, Roman Shukhevych Avenue in Dniprovskyi District of Kyiv. Its output is 330 kW. In sunny weather, such a plant is able to fully charge the batteries of eight electric cars in one hour. The project investor is the Ukrainian company, named Aurora Therm. The company invested over USD 330 thousand in construction.
The DTEK Grids distribution system operators create conditions for unhindered access to infrastructure for all market players, including those who develop renewable energy.
“DTEK makes a significant contribution to the transformation of the energy sector. The number of industrial solar power plants connected by the companies proves this. In 2019 alone, 5 operators of the DTEK Grids distribution system connected 55 such SPPs with a total capacity of 532 megawatts. Since the beginning of 2020, this number, including the rooftop plant in Troyeshchina, equals to 49 SPP and 340 megawatts, respectively. There are plans to connect another 26 SPPs with a capacity of 226 megawatts by the end of the year,” says Ivan Geliukh, DTEK Grids CEO.
The head of DTEK Grids noted that the SPP on the rooftop of a residential apartment building was the embodiment of the new paradigm of modern energy. Today, residential buildings are gradually changing from electricity consumers into electricity producers and retailers. By connecting such plants to the grid, distribution system operators actually strengthen the country's energy and environmental safety.
The creation of generating green capacities in close proximity to or on top of houses is part of the European strategy for the energy system development. Through such steps, the EU will restructure its own energy sector in order to minimize the negative impact on the environment and increase its safety.
It took less than two years to get from idea of building a solar power plant on the rooftop of a high-rise building to the launch of the plant. In the fall of 2018, Avrora Therm sent a request to DTEK Kyiv Grids to connect a solar power plant. As a result, an agreement was concluded and technical conditions for connection were provided. The connection of the built plant itself to the grids occured during May-July 2020.
“In the near future we plan to increase the total capacity of our rooftop solar power plants in Kyiv to 2 megawatts. We will open the next plant at the Rusanovka District of Kyiv. We are negotiating with four houses in Desnyanskiy District and one in Obolon District. There are plans to construct rooftop solar power plants in other regions of Ukraine,” says Yurii Ivko, director and founder of Avrora Term.
In addition to environmentally friendly electricity, the solar power plant construction on the rooftop of the high-rise building gave the residents at 30, Roman Shukhevych Avenue additional benefits. The investor entered into a roof lease agreement with them. And now he pays more than UAH 4 thousand every month, which can be spent on the building maintenance and renovation.
In addition, while constructing SPP, Avrora Term improved the high-rise building roof and made a commitment to keep it in due condition. Moreover, the plant is equipped with an advanced security system that will protect the equipment, including elevators, from vandals and hunters for non-ferrous metals.
In the future, the authors of the idea of rooftop SPPs in Kyiv are all out for high-rise buildings owners to become full-fledged co-investors of such power plants. According to the plan, they could not only lease a roof and get rent payments, but also become co-owners of the plants and receive passive income from the generated kilowatt / hours of electricity.
For its part, DTEK Kyiv Grids is ready to continue to connect such power plants to the grid as quickly as possible. Their availability creates additional power sources, and improves the reliability of power supply in Kyiv.