OREANDA-NEWS. October 5, 2012. DTEK has launched the first wind turbines of the Ukraine’s largest wind farm Botievo. Nineteen wind turbines have been installed; eleven more will be erected by the end of October 2012. The green electricity produced by the wind farm is already being supplied to the networks of Zaporizhzhiaoblenergo.

 The president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, SCM’s principal shareholder Rinat Akhmetov, the Governor of Zaporizhzhia region Oleksandr Peklushenko and DTEK's CEO Maxim Timchenko attended the opening ceremony.

 By the end of the year all thirty wind turbines of the first lot with the installed capacity of 90 MW will be connected to Ukrainian grid. By the end of 2013 DTEK plans to install another 100 MW, and having reached its design capacity of 200 MW Botievo wind farm will produce the average of 686 GWh per year, the amount sufficient to supply electricity to 960 thousand families.

 Construction of the Botievo wind farm is one of DTEK's largest investment projects and the first one in renewables. The company will invest more than 350 million euro in construction of the 200 MW wind farm, whereas total investments in construction of DTEK Priazovsk wind park will reach 900 million euro. The first lot of wind turbines was supplied by Vestas Deutchand, a German branch of the Danish Vestas Wind Systems AS, the largest and the oldest turbine manufacturer.

 “Development of renewables is one of DTEK's strategic priorities. The launch of the Botievo wind farm is a perfect example of our large scale investment projects and the contribution to Ukraine’s development. Having commissioned the wind farm we’ll reduce the yearly atmospheric emissions by the equivalent of 730 thousand tonnes of CO2. Environmental protection is a mandatory condition for all of DTEK's investment projects. We are proud to be one of the largest Ukrainian investors having allocated more than nine billion hryvnias in 2012,” said DTEK's CEO Maxim Timchenko.

 “It has to be pointed out how important such large infrastructural projects are for development of small and middle businesses in the regions. Hundreds of people are working at construction of the wind farm, and most of them are residents of Zaporizhzhia region. More than twenty firms in the region were contracted to participate in the project. We are happy to contribute to the reliability of electricity supply, environmental safety and social development of the region and hope for further cooperation with its people,” said the Director of Wind Power LLC Guerman Ainbinder.

 DTEK is now constructing Primorsk and Berdiansk wind farms, which are another two sections of the future DTEK Priazovsk wind park in Zaporizhzhia region. Currently the capacity collecting facilities are being installed. Priazovsk wind farm with the total capacity of 550 MW will be put in operation by the end of 2015.