Ukraine’s most powerful wind turbines now produced 45 km away from the front line

In May, Fuhrlander Windtechnology company (FWT) manufactured Ukraine’s most powerful windmill generator in Kramatorsk, a city in war-torn Donetsk Oblast 45 km away from the front line. The turbine’s capacity is 3.2 MW. Over 50% of the wind turbines' components are produced in Ukraine. Three Kramatorsk enterprises are involved in the manufacturing cycle. The windmill generator was produced for Prychornomorskyi wind farm in Mykolaiv Oblast, Ukraine’s youngest wind farm with a projected capacity of up to 90 MW. Earlier FWT produced and supplied several 2.5 MW wind turbines for the farm. Kramatorsk manufacturers have plans to produce wind turbines of 4 MW capacity. FWT is the only Ukrainian producer of modern wind turbines. The company produces wind turbines at the facilities of the Kramatorsk Heavy Machine Tool Plant (KZTS), a manufacturer of machine tools and high-precision parts. Using its own equipment, Fuhrlander Windtechnology has built seven wind farms in Ukraine and one more in Kazakhstan since 2010. The 45 MW wind farm in Ereymentau, Kazakhstan is holding talks with FWT to expand the power plant's capacity to 300 MW.

Wind energy in Ukraine

Ukraine has good wind power potential, which is mainly concentrated in the south on the coast of the Black and Azov seas, and in the Carpathian and Crimean mountains. However, only 12 wind power plants were operating in mainland Ukraine under feed-in tariff in Ukraine as of 1 April 2017.

In 2014, other four wind farms were lost in the Donbas. Krasnodon and Lutuhyne Wind Parks in Luhansk Oblast haven't been in the zone of active hostilities and remain in the deep rear of the occupied territory. Two Donetsk onshore farms near Bezymenne ended up in the battlefield amid fighting for Shyrokyne in the area of the port city of Mariupol (September 2014 - July 2015). As of now, both remain at the front line and sporadic violence erupts from time to time in the area. Twenty operating wind power plants (WPP) have generated 390 million KWh of electricity in the first five months of 2017. Earlier in July, China’s Tebian Electric Apparatus (TBEA) showed interest in constructing a 500 MW wind power plant in Mykolaiv Oblast. According to the press service of the Ministry of Energy, the company's pilot project passed all the necessary expertise in Ukraine. TBEA is a Chinese manufacturer of power transformers and other electrical equipment. By mid-2016, the total capacity of renewable energy plants in Ukraine reached 1,028 MW and the power capacity is continuing to grow steadily. The entire installed generating capacity of equipment operating in the Ukrainian power grid in 2016 grew to 55,331 MW. The existing wind farms are expanding, new ones are being projected. Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems will deliver and commission the wind turbines for a 41-MW wind project in southern Ukraine in the third quarter of 2017. Vindkraft Tavriya LLC purchased 12 units of the 3.45 MW turbines for the Novotroitsk wind park in the village of Overyanivka in Kherson Oblast. In 2018, Atlas Global Energy company is going to complete the first 20 MW stage of a wind power plant in the area of Skole, Lviv Oblast. The second stage of the project will see the capacity of the plant increased to 50MW. Despite the smaller overall capacity of WPP, they generated more energy than more capable solar power stations in 2016:

Read also: Ukraine signs deal on integrating into European energy grid

However, the total energy generating capacity of solar, wind and biomass power plants in Ukraine is about 4%, thermal and nuclear power plants remain the major electricity producers in Ukraine:

Back in October 2014, the Government approved the National Action Plan for Renewable Energy for the period until 2020. According to the plan, Ukraine seeks to achieve the share of 11% of energy from renewable energy sources in final energy consumption in the country by 2020.

Read also: Alternative Energy is Rapidly Developing in Ukraine

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