Solar power plants have been installed at three water supply and wastewater facilities in the city of Chortkiv, located within the Ternopil Oblast of western Ukraine.
The plants were developed via a project implemented by Helsinki-based international financial institution NEFCO – The Nordic Green Bank, which has been working with Chortkiv since 2018 to improve the energy efficiency of its public buildings.
Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, the area has seen systematic attacks on energy infrastructure, leading to acute electricity shortages that impact municipal services such as water supply, healthcare and education.
As a result, NEFCO developed a project to install three solar power plants, two at pumping stations and one at the treatment facilities belonging to the local utility, to provide around 20% of the facilities' electricity needs. With a combined capacity of 340 kW, the solar systems have been designed to ensure Chortkiv residents have an uninterrupted water supply.
There are also plans for an active consumer tariff to be applied, which would allow the water utility to transfer any excess electricity to the national grid.
Jyrki Rautamäki, Senior Consultant at NEFCO, said solar energy is proving to be a simple and effective solution when additional energy capacity is needed.
“Solar power plants are economical, quick to build and much safer than fuel generators,” Rautamäki said. “They do not make noise, require less maintenance and provide more reliable operation, unlike mechanical systems that are prone to breakdowns.”
The project was made possible by €460,000 ($538.106) in grant funding from the Eastern European Partnership for Energy Efficiency and Environment (E5P), alongside technical assistance worth €54,960 delivered by Sweden and €33,846 in co-financing from the city of Chortkiv.
Chortkiv Mayor Volodymyr Shmatko commented that the project gives hope that the long-term reconstruction of Ukraine will be aimed at both restoring what has been destroyed and transforming the country to a more sustainable, energy-independent, environmentally safe state. “This is also an example for other cities on how to build modern infrastructure with an emphasis on green transition and energy efficiency,” the mayor added.
Last month, the eastern Ukrainian village of Donets switched on a 30.4 kW solar array supported by a 24 kWh battery energy storage system to support the local municipality’s water utility. Since then, another solar-plus-storage system has been inaugurated at Slobozhanske hospital in northeastern Ukraine.
Ukraine deployed 500 MW of solar across the first half of 2025, according to provisional figures from the country’s solar association.
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