ENERGO-PRO Grids installs platforms for stork nests in the Dobrich region

Specialists of ENERGO-PRO Networks install platforms for stork nests on electric poles on the territory of Dobrich region. The company's teams, with the assistance of an ornithologist from the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB), installed 3 platforms in the village of Kotlentsi, Dobrichka municipality. By the end of the year, a total of 20 platforms will be installed on the territory of the district. Their placement on the poles began after the autumn migration of birds and will continue again next year, before the spring migration.

The initiative was launched in 2008 on the territory of Northeastern Bulgaria and so far more than 120 pairs of storks have found their homes secured on platforms.

The white stork is one of two protected stork species, which over the past 30 years have increasingly located their nests on power distribution network equipment.Often the nests become so large that their lower branches reach the wires, cause a short circuit and burn out. Placing stork nests on platforms protects birds from becoming stressed and conserves their population. In this way, the occurrence of breakdowns on the power distribution network and interruption of the power supply to customers of the company is also prevented.

Considering the importance of biodiversity conservation in Bulgaria, in October 2012 ENERGO-PRO Networks AD signed with BSPB a memorandum of cooperation within the project for the conservation of the hunting falcon in Northeastern Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary. The hunting falcon is an endangered species and installing special plastic insulators on power poles is a way to preserve its population. The project is financed under the LIFE+ program of the European Union and is implemented in Bulgaria by the environmental protection company, in cooperation with the electricity distribution company ENERGO-PRO Grids.