Ukraine's State Agency for Managing Chornobyl Exclusion Zone had received 39 applications for the allocation of land parcels to build solar power plants in the Chornobyl zone as of January 1, 2017, Ecology and Natural Resources Minister of Ukraine Ostap Semerak has said.

"On January 1, 2017, the first stage of collecting applications for the implementation of the projects finished. We received 39 applications from companies asking to localize the projects," he wrote on his Facebook page.

As reported, the State Agency for Managing Chornobyl Exclusion Zone extended a deadline of submitting bids for the allocation of land parcels to build solar power plants in the Chornobyl zone until March 1, 2017.

The total area earmarked for construction of solar power plants is 1,172 ha.

Around 2 ha are required to build a solar power plant with the projected capacity of 1 MW.