80% of Ukraine’s wind power generation capacity has been knocked out of order or captured, Ukrainian deputy energy minister Yaroslav Demchenkov said in an article for Ukrainian business publication Ekonomichna Pravda.
According to the official, as of Feb. 24, 2022, the total capacity of Ukrainian wind power plants (excluding the temporarily occupied territories of Donbas and Crimea) amounted to 1.67 GW, “just like two nuclear reactors.”
“But the war started,” Demchenkov said.
“Almost all wind power plants in Kherson, Zaporizhzhya and Mykolayiv oblasts have found themselves in the frontline or occupied zone since the first days [of the war].”
According to preliminary estimates, the losses from destroyed, damaged or stolen equipment of wind power plants amount to more than EUR 50 million. Another EUR 500 million were lost due to forced downtime, the deputy energy minister said.
In addition, new projects for the construction of 11 land-based wind power plants with a total capacity of almost 1 GW have been put on hold due to the war.
“There is no military expediency in destroying renewable energy facilities,” Demchenkov stressed.
“But the Russians’ deliberate energy terror has a very pragmatic purpose. Their actions are directed not only against the Ukrainian power grid, but also against European energy transition plans.”