Reconstructed kindergarten in Borodyanka to be equipped with solar panels

On April 18, 2024, Galina Schmidt, UWEA Board Member and Vice President of the World Wind Energy Association (WWEA), signed a trilateral Memorandum of Cooperation with the Borodyanka Village Council (Kiyv region, Ukraine) and the charitable organization “Vidvazhni” (“Braves”). As part of the partnership, a small solar power plant will be installed on the roof of the rebuilt Pinocchio kindergarten in Borodyanka.

The Pinocchio kindergarten was heavily damaged during the Russian invasion and has been rebuilt since the liberation of Borodyanka thanks to the help of philanthropists, including those from the Republic of Lithuania. It was decided to ensure the kindergarten’s energy autonomy by the time it opens on September 1, 2024.

According to Galina Schmidt, the solar system will be operational by the end of May, 2024 and will provide not only independent power supply to the kindergarten, but also save money that would normally be spent on electricity.

“An 11 kW solar system will be installed in this kindergarten. The system is technically “smart” because it not only generates electricity from the sun, but also accumulates it in the battery to power the facility during less sunny hours,” said Andriy Konechenkov, Chairman of the UWEA Board. “Thanks to this system, both children and parents of this kindergarten will understand on a real example how effective the use of local energy sources: the sun and wind is. By developing decentralized energy sources, we not only help the national energy system, but also become independent of fuel imports from the aggressor country.”

The equipment with solar panels became possible thanks to the UWEA and WWEA’s charity initiative Renewables4Ukraine and financial support from the Finnish non-profit organization EKOenergy. Earlier, mobile solar systems were also transferred to the Irpin City Primary Health Care Center, Kozynets Family Medicine Outpatient Clinic in Kozynets village, Bucha district, Irpin Lyceum of Innovative Technologies “ILIT” and installed on the roof of the pre-school department “Dzhereltse” of Irpin Gymnasium “Osvita”.

Watch the video report from Borodyansky Pinocchio here.