According to PVTech, the Ukrainian government is pushing for a 6 month construction cycle. Deploying this amount of solar power within such a time frame would involve significant resources being deployed. The proposed 1GW solar plant, if built today, would be the world’s largest.
There are several plans for 1GW solar plants in development (Egypt, India, UAE, China, etc), but none of them have been completed yet. One financial benefit of the site is that transmission lines for Chernobyl’s 4GW nuclear reactor are still in place.
“The Chernobyl site has really good potential for renewable energy,” Ukraine’s environment minister Ostap Semerak, 44, said at an interview in London. “We already have high-voltage transmission lines that were previously used for the nuclear stations, the land is very cheap and we have many people trained to work at power plants. We have normal European priorities, which means having the best standards with the environment and clean energy ambitions,”
The European Bank for Reconstruction & Development has stated they would be interested in participating in the project, “so long as there are viable investment proposals and all other environmental matters and risks can be addressed to the bank’s satisfaction.” A 2GW solar project, based upon a global market price of $1-1.5/W, would cost between $2 and $3 billion dollars.
One interesting and perhaps important logistical concern to be considered: what constraints will the workers who build this be under? Will they have to wear radioactive suits and will they be able to work normal days? How will this affect the construction costs?