By year end, the Government of the Republic of Moldova will announce the first tenders for large wind and photovoltaic parks and will launch the Residential Energy Efficiency Fund, Victor Parlicov, the Minister of Energy of the Republic of Moldova, told us. “We already have electric bus manufacturers and a smart meter manufacturer,” said Victor Parlicov, in an exclusive interview for Energynomics.
What are the main actions that the Government of Moldova has taken and is considering to stimulate and facilitate new energy investments, made with European funds, both in the field of green energy and in distribution and transport?
We started several processes at the Ministry of Energy dedicated to the modernization of the energy infrastructure, the liberalization of the market, the improvement of the energy efficiency of both public and residential buildings, the promotion of investments in the field of green energy – preparatory processes, in some places difficult and excessively bureaucratic, but necessary for to start more reforms and initiatives in the field, which will be felt by as many citizens as possible.
For example, by the end of the year, we want to announce the first tenders for large wind and photovoltaic parks, organized by the Government of the Republic of Moldova. And for this approach we are making changes in the legislation. The new regulations bring more order to renewable installations. Now we are witnessing a phenomenon when those who have financial resources or were simply faster in making decisions install photovoltaic panels with a capacity far exceeding the consumption of their households and businesses, that is why we are intervening to make the mechanism fairer and more orderly . Technically, the grid has a certain capacity, and we can no longer allow some consumers to use the grid as a free battery at the expense of others.
We are working to boost cross-border energy infrastructure projects, including to allow the increase of the installed power of parks and green energy plants, which would also make it possible to export this excess energy. Part of the resources dedicated to interconnections are grants, others – loans at favorable conditions. We are in a situation where we have money available in this direction, but not the technical projects to capitalize on it.
On another note, by the end of the year we intend to launch the Energy Efficiency Residential Fund, in which case we hope that external partners will join us. Buildings account for most of the energy consumption, about half, and the data show that in the Republic of Moldova 2-3 times more energy is consumed to heat the same square meter of office or home than in European countries. Here we were also having discussions with the banks, other interested organizations to come up with packages intended for this purpose.
We want to attract entrepreneurs to invest in innovative initiatives, in the context of the transition to green energy and decarbonization, that is why we are preparing the regulatory framework for a regime for testing these ideas, also known in the West as sandboxes. I saw something like this in the Netherlands and I would like to have in Moldova also a suitable ground for experimenting with innovative ideas in the energy field. We already have electric bus manufacturers, and a smart meter manufacturer. So, we have enormous potential and experience, we need an additional impetus.
What must Romania do to help the Republic of Moldova in European integration, especially from an energy point of view?
The energy crisis of the last two years boosted our cooperation with Romania on all levels. I will not tire of thanking Romania and the Romanian people for the immense support given to the Republic of Moldova in difficult moments, either when we were left in the dark because our synchronized system with the Ukrainian one suffered as a result of the Russian bombings, or for the efforts to balance gas system, when the Russian Federation limited deliveries to the Republic of Moldova, either for the fuel oil donation.
We count on Romania’s help in our efforts to liberalize our energy market and efforts to integrate into the European market. Who better to learn from than Romania? That is why I welcomed OPCOM’s decision to open a branch in the Republic of Moldova, in order to have a more orderly market. OPCOM has valuable experience for us.
We are in an active dialogue with Transgaz, whose subsidiary from the Republic of Moldova, Vestmoldtransgaz, is in the process of taking over the operation of the gas transport system from the Republic of Moldova, including in the Transnistrian region. By the way, the Iasi-Ungheni-Chisinau gas pipeline was used last winter, in certain periods, at maximum capacity. Diversification of energy sources and routes is one of the priorities of my mandate.
We asked our colleagues from the Republic of Moldova and Romania to advance the energy interconnection projects. I am considering the extension of the Isaccea-Vulcănești high-voltage line to Chișinău, on the south side, on the north – the construction of a new high-voltage line Bălți-Suceava, and we also want and are in discussions with the Romanian side, an interconnection on the area of center, from the Iasi area coming towards Chisinau. Thus, by 2030 we would have 3 electrical interconnection projects that would make us less dependent on the Dnestrovsk Power Plant across the Dniester, controlled by the Russians.
In the last year, Moldovan-Romanian bilateral relations, both in terms of infrastructure and trade, have intensified quite a bit, and in order to advance certain files, we have decided to revive the Interministerial Working Group on Energy, in order to he coordinates many of our common activities.
What is the status of connection requests and new projects in the field of renewables in the Republic of Moldova?
There is a great interest in photovoltaic plants, against the background of high prices of energy resources. And I have said it countless times, including to the economic agents I met with, renewable energy is not limited to photovoltaic panels only. The network has its limits, and the problem with us is very uneven consumption, with load peaks in the morning and evening, when the panels produce less electricity, or we have very little consumption in the summer, when there is an excess of solar energy. We want to stimulate balancing technologies, investments in batteries or other storage solutions.
We don’t have large wind farms and PV panels yet; we are going to hold tenders by the end of the year for 105 MW wind and 60 MW PV capacity. As I said, we are on the last hundred meters with the legal adjustments that would facilitate these investments.
Last year we simplified the procedure for obtaining the status of eligible producer (economic agents who install up to 1 MW), in the case of this mechanism entrepreneurs benefit from a fixed tariff established by ANRE for a period of 15 years. At the same time, last year, because the demand was high, the Government increased the capacity allocated to photovoltaic installations from 20 MW to 120 MW. This trend, however, continues.
We currently have a total installed capacity for renewable energy of about 260 MW, including hydroelectric energy. Most of it goes to eligible producers. We have an installed capacity of 73 MW under the net metering formula, intended for prosumers, which we want to change to net billing. In our case, prosumers or those who install installations for their own consumption refer equally to economic agents, public institutions and the residential sector. In the case of these prosumers, we are talking about a total power installed at the moment of 73 MW, of which 63% belongs to the business. Plus, we are witnessing the oversizing of photovoltaic systems. Installed power has been calculated by many prosumers to be intentionally higher than own consumption over a 12-month period. But this mechanism is not intended for the business environment, business having other mechanisms provided by law and supported by the state, fixed rate and fixed price. That’s why we had to intervene, to bring more equity and order to the field. I’m not talking about the imbalances these oversized parks create.
We set out to have, by 2030, no less than 30% of locally consumed electricity produced from renewable sources, now it reaches 6%. So anyway, we are going to increase the volume of renewable energy integrated into the network, we want to be the first developing country to reach the target of 0 carbon emissions. We are working to advance energy infrastructure projects to make this possible.
What is the status of requests for European funds and European grants of the Republic of Moldova, in the energy segment, for 2023?
We have only recently become members of a number of EU programs such as Life, Horizon Europe, Connecting Europe Facility. Since we got the status of candidate for accession, we want to access pre-accession funds, now this is not possible because most of the EU funding is already allocated. We hope to be able to count on Romania’s experience and help in accessing these funds. We, at the Ministry of Energy in Chisinau, work intensively on capitalizing on these resources, in order to generate development and a better standard of living at home.
What must Romania do to further support the Republic of Moldova, to ensure the independence and security of energy supply?
I was recently in Bucharest, where I met with my counterpart Sebastian Burduja and other key factors in the sector. We discussed the opportunities for Romanian investments in the energy sector of the Republic of Moldova, the participation of Chisinau in the expansion of the operations of the Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant, but also the extraction of natural gas from the Black Sea. We decided to focus on the advancement of energy interconnection projects.
In addition to developing its own capacities, Romania is part of some European projects, such as the submarine cable that would bring energy resources from Georgia-Azerbaijan in a few years. We could have access to other sources and routes of energy, and that means competition and better prices for our consumers, but above all, independence in providing energy resources. So, we have an extremely complex palette of projects, I hope to realize them at a faster pace than before.
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This interview first appeared in the printed edition of Energynomics Magazine, issued in September 2023.
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