The thermal energy producer Termoelectrica, the largest gas consumer in the Republic of Moldova, covering a third of consumption, counts on fuel oil to be able to continue supplying heating agent this winter.
“We are doing everything we can to ensure reserve fuel, and the reserve fuel is fuel oil”, said Vasile Leu, interim general director of the company Termoelectrica from the Republic of Moldova, during the “Regional Approach – Chisinau” conference, organized by Energynomics.. “In 2022, like never before, we have used an enormous amount of fuel oil, but it is much less than what we plan for this winter. Just recently we bought 36,000 tons of fuel oil and we are going to hold auctions for another up to 150,000 tons. We do it out of necessity, because it’s more economical and for security reasons,” he explained.
More than 80% of the heating agent supplied by the company is intended for residential and vulnerable consumers. Last winter, the Moldovan authorities granted compensation for the payment of heat and gas bills, and such a mechanism needs to be used this winter as well, especially considering the extreme prices of natural gas. Due to the increase in prices, the share of energy resources exceeded the level of 98% of the company’s costs, thus leaving no room for it to be able to influence the sales prices.
“The last winter was unusual, with many challenges, and we thought we would return to normality. It would have been good if we had used gas, because it is more ecological, but from the point of view of the security of gas supply, we have certain shortcomings”, Leu added.
The state-owned company plans to launch tenders for the construction of new 55 MW cogeneration facilities soon. Just recently it was approved to start the feasibility study for the construction of cogeneration facilities at CET 2, one of the main energy production units in the country.
The conference „Regional Approach Chișinău” was organized by Energynomics with the support of our partners: BRM East Energy MD, Huawei, Kawasaki Gas Turbine Europe, Schneider Electric, Transelectrica, and Transgaz.