• The construction of 109 MW Cherikov Solar Plant has begun in Belarus which is expected to be the country’s largest solar power project on completion
  • Zao Belzarubezhstroy will provide construction and installation, Germany’s Ecap GmbH will be technical coordinator and Power China will provide turnkey equipment supply and engineering
  • Project owner is Solar Land, which will provide financing from equity and credit resources

Zao Belzarubezhstroy, a civil engineering company in Belrarus, has broken ground on a 109 MW solar power project in the Eastern European country’s Blizhniaya Rechitsa village in Cherikov district, Mogilev region. The place rings with the memories of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986w, which heavily contaminated the region that is now a deserted place. The 109 MW (130 MWp) Cherikov Solar Plant will be the largest in Belarus and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), according to Zao Belzarubezhstroy. It is building the plant for Solar Land Company, stated government press agency Belta.

In October 2017, a 55 MW solar power plant was commissioned as the country’s largest, replacing an 18.48 MW project by mobile company Velcom (see 55 MW PV Plant Switched On In Belarus).

The 109 MW Cherikov Solar Plant will be located on 220 hectares of land and will be built by around 120 people. Preparation and excavation works have been completed on 100 hectares; mounting structures for more than 800 PV modules have been installed already.

Total project cost is estimated to be more than $170 million, and is being financed with equity and credits from project owner Solar Land, a subsidiary of Cameliaside Limited of Ireland, which itself is a subsidiary of United Green and Altostarta companies. United Green Group is a venture capital financer of renewable energy.

While Zao Belzarubezhstroy will undertake civil construction and installation works, technical coordinator of the project will be Germany’s Ecap GmbH, which will also provide plant maintenance post commissioning. China’s Power China Guizhou Engineering Co., Ltd. will provide turnkey equipment supply and engineering.

In October 2018, the Rodina-Enerparc consortium officially launched a 1 MW solar power plant on the site of Chernobyl nuclear power plant; it started selling power to the national grid on July 1, 2018 (see Chernobyl Solar Plant Inaugurated).