The Perovo Solar Park, located near Simferopol (Perovo village) in Crimea, became one of Ukraine’s most ambitious and innovative renewable energy projects in December 2011. Its installed capacity of about 100 MW was the largest in the country at the time, and the plant was among the leading solar power plants in Europe. This project demonstrated that it is possible to build a highly efficient, large-scale solar power plant capable of quickly supplying electricity to tens of thousands of households. Despite the rapid development of the global solar industry and the emergence of larger facilities in different countries, Perovo remains a landmark and an important example of the rapid growth of Ukraine’s green energy sector. The occupation of Crimea by Russia in 2014 dealt a significant blow to the development of renewable energy in Ukraine. Before that, the peninsula was one of the centers of solar generation, and stations such as Perovo, Okhotnykove, and Mytiaievo played an important role in the power grid. After the annexation, control over these facilities passed to the occupation administration, and the legal status of the power plants became uncertain.
The fast pace of construction. The project was implemented by Activ Solar, an Austrian company founded in 2008. The accelerated construction was made possible by a modular (block) approach: different sections were built in parallel, and the equipment used was serialized, and tested at other Crimean stations (such as Okhotnykove and Mytiaievo). In just a few months, about 400-440 thousand photovoltaic panels were installed, covering an area of 200 hectares.
Financial incentives. The basis for the success was the feed-in tariff introduced in Ukraine, a government program to support producers of electricity from renewable sources. It has made it much easier to attract investment and calculate the payback period of large solar power plants, and the demand for solar generation has grown significantly. Since then, the tariff has become more balanced and economically justified from the point of view of the state and consumers. But for investors and businesses, the conditions were less attractive.
Technical performance and contribution to the energy balance. With a peak capacity of 100 MW, Perovo is one of the largest plants built in the early 2010s. The specific capacity is approximately 50 W/m², corresponding to the typical indicators of ground-based PV parks of that period. The plant can produce 120-130 GW per year. The capacity factor of about 13-14% is typical for regions with a moderately warm climate and standard panels without sun tracking systems.
Comparison with new solar power plants in Ukraine. Since the launch of Perovo, the development of solar generation in Ukraine has not stopped; on the contrary, by 2018-2020, larger facilities appeared in the mainland, exceeding the Crimean “flagship” in terms of installed capacity.
- Nikopolska Solar Farm (Dnipropetrovska oblast). Capacity: about 246 MW.
It was launched in 2019 with the participation of DTEK Group. At that time, it became one of the largest solar power plants in Eastern Europe.
- Pokrovska Solar Farm (Dnipropetrovska oblast). Capacity: 240 MW.
DTEK was also implemented and commissioned in 2019-2020. Today, it is one of the largest solar power plants in Ukraine in terms of solar electricity production.
Thus, although Perovo is inferior to newer facilities in terms of absolute capacity, it is this Crimean power plant that has made the greatest contribution to the popularization of solar generation in the country and has become a starting point for further large-scale investment.
Interesting facts about Perovo
- A record of short-term leadership. In 2011, Perovo was even called the largest single-site solar power plant in the world, but a year later, stations with greater capacity were built in the United States, China, and India.
- A symbol of green energy in Ukraine. In the wake of attention to Perovo and other Crimean solar power plants (2010-2013), interest in renewable energy in the country increased dramatically, leading to the emergence of numerous new projects and improvements in the legislative framework for the feed-in tariff.
- Realistic construction timeframe. Active work lasted only a few months; thanks to parallel work at several sites, the entire infrastructure was ready to be connected to the network by the end of 2011.
- Unique location. The station is located in a region with a moderate number of sunny days, but this did not prevent it from demonstrating high efficiency, largely due to the well-thought-out layout and the correct angle of the panels.
As of 2025, Perovo Solar Park is not the largest or most efficient; there are already plants with leading technologies in the UAE and plants covering a huge area in China. But it was the most efficient in its class at the time of construction and remains more efficient than most of the top 10 plants in terms of size.
Perovo is rightfully considered the flagship project of the Ukrainian green energy sector in the early 2010s. It showed that even in a temperate climate and on a relatively small territory, it is possible to build a high-performance facility that can compete with traditional sources of electricity. The successful experience of Perovo contributed to the development of the legislative framework, stimulated investment, and attracted the attention of the international renewable energy community to Ukraine.
Even though larger solar parks were subsequently commissioned in the country (including Nikopol Solar Farm, Pokrovska Solar Farm, and others), Perovo has not lost its historical significance: for many, it remains a symbol of technological breakthrough, environmental responsibility, and Ukraine’s real potential on the path to energy independence.
