Russia Captured Most of Ukraine's Wind Power Plants.

In the first 8 months of the war, Ukraine lost a significant portion of its "green" energy due to the occupation of southern regions by Russian troops. According to the Center for Investigative Journalism, up to 90% of wind and up to 50% of solar power plants came under the control of the Russian Armed Forces. The Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions suffered the most, as they housed some of Ukraine's and Eastern Europe's largest solar power plants.

Some of them were partially destroyed by shelling, while others continue to operate for the benefit of the occupiers. Russian troops also plundered some stations, stealing solar panels and other equipment.

Wind power plants also suffered significant losses due to damaged power lines and the forced evacuation of personnel. However, some of the equipment was managed to be moved to Ukrainian-controlled territory.

According to Ukraine's Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko, in 2022 alone, the country lost 90% of its wind and 45% of its solar energy. Overall, 40% of renewable energy facilities in the temporarily occupied territories of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia are under Russian control.

As for the Kherson region, there is no information about the exact number of surviving solar power plants or their technical condition. It is only known that the Russian energy company conducted an inventory of local photovoltaic power plants in July 2023.

In the temporarily occupied Kherson region, 23 solar power plants (SPPs) were identified, similar in scale and capacity to those in Zaporizhzhia. The two largest, located in the villages of Kostohryzove and Vynohradove in the Oleshky district, suffered significant damage, according to satellite data.

The Oleshky SPP with a capacity of 16 MW was completely destroyed. Meanwhile, solar power plants in the coastal settlements of the Left Bank and along the Dnieper visually did not suffer, and there is no information about their damage.

Before the full-scale war, the total capacity of solar power plants in Ukraine reached 6230 MW. Currently, 40% of this capacity, located in the occupied territories of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, is controlled by Russia.