Fell from the electric pole: DTEK energy workers in the Dnipropetrovsk region installed a safe nest for storks that have lost their home

Local residents informed the energy workers about the crushed stork nest that fell from the high-voltage lines pole. In order to provide the birds with a safe place to return to after wintering, specialists of the company prepared a special solid structure for them. To do that, they fabricated a steel platform and installed a renewed nest on it. Local volunteers and caring residents helped energy workers in weaving it. A special machinery was used to lift the structure and fix it on the pole on the safe height above the power lines. 

“The storks frequently settle on the poles, and heavy nests can collapse, causing threat for birds and grids. We systematically detect such emergency nests during inspections or get information from the residents. Overall, within the framework of the #EnergyWings project, we will prepare 8 safe platforms before the storks return this spring, another 5 – we plan to install by the end of the year,” – noted DTEK Dnipro Grids CEO Andrii Tereshchuk. 

Energy workers carry out relocation of nests in the Dnipropetrovsk region every year in the early spring and during the autumn-winter period, when the storks fly to their wintering grounds. Last year alone, DTEK Dnipro Grids specialists installed 13 protective platforms. Since the commencement of the project in 2013, they reinforced 235 nests in the region, thus making it possible for more than 20,000 nestlings to spread wings safely. 

Protection of stork nests is carried out within the framework of the environmental and educational initiative #EnergyWings, directed at preservation of the white stork population in Ukraine. This initiative complies with ESG principles and supports UN Global Compact Sustainable Development Goal No. 15 – “Preservation of terrestrial ecosystems”.