A solar power plant built by China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) has begun operation in Ukraine. 

The plant is owned by Donbas Fuel-Energy Company (DTEK), which is Ukraine's largest private energy company. The facility is located near Nikopol city in central Dnipropetrovsk region, and its 246 MW capacity makes the operation the biggest solar power plant in Ukraine.

The solar project comprises 750,000 photovoltaic (PV) solar panels produced by Chinese companies Seraphim Solar System and Trina Solar, as well as inverter stations made by Shenzhen Kstar Science and Technology.

Project company Solar-Farm 1 LLC belongs to DTEK Renewables, which operates the renewables assets of the DTEK Group. Total project cost is 230 million euros (US$261 million), with funding from DTEK plus a loan from China Eximbank in support of CMEC.

The construction agreement was signed in April 2018. CMEC is a member of the Chinese state-owned Sinomach group, one of the leading contractors of energy projects in the world. The Sinomach portfolio of projects in the energy sector exceeds 4300 MW.

The National Commission for Energy, Housing and Utilities Services Regulation approved the final feed-in tariff on February 15, and it is planned that the Nikopol plant will generate up to 290 million kWh of electricity a year.

The project has been commissioned as part of Ukraine’s national energy strategy, which seeks to achieve a total renewable energy output of 5 GW by 2020, and reduce carbon emissions by 40% by 2035.