The company said its latest project was financially supported by the Centre for International Cooperation and Development, a private non-profit research and advisory institution set up by Slovenia and the Slovenian development bank SID Banka.

According to the Russian press agency Interfax, Slovenia secured EUR 3m grant for the project.

The solar plant is to be built in two phases, the first entailing the installation of a 6 MW facility and the second a 4.79 MW plant. The 18 hectare project is slated for completion by the end of next year.

This is a second major project for Riko in Zhytomyr, a city with a population of 27,000 about 140 km west of Kyiv, after a deal to build a municipal drinking water pumping station and purification plant. The project is to be completed by 2020.

Riko is also renovating 20 water pumping stations in the Ukrainian capital. The EUR 2.1m deal was signed in June last year and entails design and equipment replacement.

The Slovenian company has also signed EUR 7.5m deal to rebuild ten water pumping stations in Kirovograd in central Ukraine.

In addition, Riko has won a World Bank bid to reconstruct a municipal water pumping station in Ternopol in western Ukraine. The EUR 1.5m contract is to be signed shortly.