Solutions from Ukraine: DTEK launches Stork Track project to protect white storks during power grid upgrades
Photo source: Facebook / DTEK Group
DTEK [the largest private investor in Ukraine's energy sector – ed.] has launched the Stork Track project to collect more data on white stork migration.
According to Rubryka, the company reported that it will use this information when building and modernizing power grids to reduce risks to birds.
What's the problem?
White storks often build nests on power line poles. Because detailed data on their migration routes remains limited, it is harder to plan grid development in a way that minimizes risks for the birds.
What's the solution?
DTEK has launched the environmental project "Stork Track." Its goal is to help scientists study white stork migration in greater detail and use the findings when designing, building, and modernizing power grids.
How does it work?
As part of the project, GPS trackers have already been installed on 10 white stork chicks. The devices will transmit data on the birds' first migration to warmer regions.
Starting in the second half of August, users will be able to follow their route on an interactive map. They will also be able to choose a specific stork to track.
The company says the project continues its long-standing work to protect birds. For more than 10 years, DTEK has been implementing the "Lelechenky" project, under which it has installed more than 900 platforms on power line poles for safe nesting. According to environmentalists, these platforms help protect about 3,600 white storks every year.
Background
#Lelechenky is an environmental and educational campaign that brings together business, Ukraine's younger generation, and contemporary art. Its main goal is to promote the protection and preservation of biodiversity, advance ESG principles, and highlight business values and responsibility for progress toward the UN Global Compact's Sustainable Development Goals.
As Rubryka wrote, in May 2025, residents of Malekhiv village in the Lviv community jointly rescued a young family of storks nesting on a power pole. In bad weather, the birds could have been electrocuted. The rescue operation lasted several days and ended successfully.
Also, in the Pyriatynskyi National Nature Park, all four chicks of Hrytsyk and Odarka, storks known not only in Ukraine, have already made their first flights. Over several days, the young birds left the nest one after another, with the smallest one, Nika, taking wing last.
