DTEK Dnipro Grids supported a family of storks in Sofiyivka
A family of white storks has been flying to Sofiyivka for several years. For nesting, they chose an old wooden utility pole out of use near the houses. Over time, it tilted under the nest weight and hung above the existing power lines, which created a great danger to the birds. Residents of the village turned to power engineers and asked to save the storks.
DTEK Dnipro Grids, together with environmentalists, examined the site and made a safe platform for the nest. A new 9-meter pole to place the nesting platform on it was installed next to the old pole. Then the company carefully shifted the nest using a truck crane. The metal platform will prevent a heavy nest from sliding onto the line, protect birds from electric shock and protect power lines from failures, and customers from outages and short circuits.
“DTEK Dnipro Grids has been implementing a project to protect storks for several years. The company consistently implementing 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. The new platform in the village of Sofiyivka is another step towards preserving the biodiversity of the Dnipropetrovsk region. In addition, in the fall, as soon as the storks leave the nests, we plan to install about 10 more platforms within the framework of the #EnergyWings project,” says Andrey Tereshchuk, Director General at DTEK Dnipro Grids.
Recently, the similar rescue operation was in the village of Lychkovo, Magdalinovsky district. To relocate the family of storks, the energy workers also installed another pole with a specifically made metal structure.
In total, within the framework of the ornithological safety program, DTEK Dnipro Grids have already installed about 170 safe nesting structures for white storks. As well as wooden and metal nests for scops owls and the Red Book stock dove, which willingly settles on utility poles. In addition, to protect birds on the line, special casings are mounted on insulators and wires, as well as reflective diverters, which make them safe for birds and eliminate the risk of power outages for customers.
See our short video of how such bird protection devices are installed here.