Our energy company DTEK has launched Track Storks, a project that has fitted ten young white storks with GPS trackers. The trackers will allow Ukrainian environmental scientists and ornithologists to follow the birds during their first migration and study their routes. The data will help DTEK take bird migration into account when it develops and modernises energy infrastructure. From the second half of August, the public will be able to follow the storks on an interactive map on the DTEK website. The project builds on more than ten years of work under the #EnergyWings initiative run by DTEK Grids.
What is the Track Storks project?
Track Storks is a new project launched by DTEK, Ukraine's largest private energy company, which has fitted ten young white storks with GPS trackers. The trackers will allow Ukrainian environmental scientists and ornithologists to study the birds' migration routes and support safer planning of energy infrastructure. The project brings together scientific research, modern technology and DTEK's experience in protecting nature, so that energy infrastructure is developed with greater care for wildlife.
How can people follow the storks?
From the second half of August, the public will be able to follow the storks' journey on an interactive map on the DTEK website. Updates will also appear on the project's social media channels and on the platforms of NV, the project's media partner. NV will publish updates about the birds' journeys, facts about white storks, stories of individual storks and the results of the observations.
Why does this matter for Ukraine's energy reconstruction?
Ukraine is repairing and rebuilding energy infrastructure damaged during the war. The data collected through Track Storks will help DTEK take bird migration routes into account when developing and modernising this infrastructure, reducing risks to birds and other wildlife.
What has DTEK already done to protect storks?
Track Storks builds on DTEK's long-term work to protect biodiversity, including the #EnergyWings initiative, which DTEK Grids has implemented for more than ten years. Through the initiative, the company installs special nesting platforms on electricity poles to give storks a safer place to build their nests. More than 900 platforms have been installed in Kyiv city and in the Kyiv, Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk regions. According to environmental experts, the platforms help protect around 3,600 white storks each year.
What does DTEK say about the project?
"It is important for us that modern energy develops in harmony with nature. We have been systematically working on the protection of storks for many years, and the new project will allow us to take another step forward — to help science gain new knowledge and use it to preserve biodiversity and develop energy infrastructure taking into account the needs of wildlife," said Alina Bondarenko, CEO of DTEK Grids.
