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fliptop [soylentnews.org] writes:

A couple of years ago the Ukraine was looking for investors [soylentnews.org] to help build a renewable energy power plant inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone [wikipedia.org]. On October 5th, 330 feet (100 meters) from the remains of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Solar Chernobyl flipped the switch on their 1MW facility [fortune.com]:

This first stage occupies about 4 acres, and authorities have offered over 6,000 acres (about 10 square miles) for solar farms. Ultimately, as much as 100 MW of solar power could be constructed. The area is already well set up with connections to the power grid. The four nuclear reactors could produce up to 4,000 MW.

Two previous solar-energy farms—with 82 and 100 MW capacity—were built in the Crimea region of Ukraine, which has been annexed by Russia, cutting off Ukraine’s supply. Russia and Ukraine have long-running disputes over natural-gas supplies that are so extensive, there’s a Wikipedia page devoted to them [wikipedia.org]. Ukraine still relies on Russian for nuclear fuel for other power plants, and for coal, which remains a significant energy source in the country.

Also at Gizmodo [gizmodo.com].

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