"We built solar power stations by clubbing." How the first energy co-op in Ukraine works in Slavutych

Danil Gerasimov

When we talk about energy, we imagine huge corporations with billions in profits, whose activity can decide the course of the state or entire regions. That was actually happening in the world. It's happening now. But, the world is changing. Today, that's not a single pattern in the energy sector. "Solar City" is the first cooperative in Ukraine, which created a solar power station at the expense of ordinary citizens and made them co-owners of energy assets.

Distributed generation and energy democracy

Slavutych is a small town with a population of 25,000 people, which has everything you need, from kindergartens to swimming pools, despite its small size. In the city center, there's a vast park and a large area with several municipal buildings. You cannot see this from the ground, but 3 roofs have solar panels. That is the Solar City energy cooperative.

Andrii Zinchenko, head of the energy cooperative, describes it: "It is a group of people, a community of investors that came together, invested and built three rooftop solar power stations in the center of Slavutych. As they say, we did "equity crowdfunding". You give us money, we give you share, but we don't call it a "share" in cooperatives, but an "equity interest". As Ukrainians put it, we built a power station by clubbing. And now we are signing contracts to receive funds for the generated electricity."