The Republic of Moldova will integrate into the common European energy market before becoming a member state of the European Union, with the entry into operation of all three interconnection lines with Romania, said, in an interview granted to Agerpres, Victor Parlicov, the minister Energy from Chisinau.
“Never before has the energy sector in the Republic of Moldova benefited from so many investments in such a short period as in recent years. We are talking about investments in interconnection lines. We are talking about investments in the modernization of generation and cogeneration stations, we are talking about investments in renewables, we are talking about investments in smart metering and including cybersecurity elements. So we are now investing in the energy sector probably more than we invested in the previous 30 years of independence. Of course, the most tangible type of investment that will be made will not be made in the energy system, it will be made at the consumer level, because, unfortunately, after 30 years of hesitation, we are a country in which, although everyone talks about how we can reduce tariffs, how we can reduce energy prices, we are extremely wasteful. The Republic of Moldova today consumes about twice as much energy to maintain a square meter of building compared to the EU average. Which means that we have practically double bills at exactly the same cost, regardless of how much the energy costs, we pay double because we waste at least half of the energy,” said Parlicov.
He emphasized that the Isaccea-Vulcăneşti interconnection is already functional, and Bălți-Suceava has entered into procedures for the acquisition of design and construction works, with the time horizon for completion being the end of 2027. A third line, which took shape only recently a few months ago, Străşeni – Gutinaş, has an estimated completion date of the end of 2028.
The Moldovan Minister of Energy specified that the current investments in the energy sector in the Republic of Moldova exceed those made in all the previous 30 years of independence, and money is not a problem at the moment, because the country has a relatively low degree of debt public.
Victor Parlicov also spoke about his country’s gas supply sources and mentioned that during 2023 the Republic of Moldova did not consume gas from Gazprom.
At the same time, the Moldovan official pointed out that there are many renewable, wind and solar energy projects, and insisted on the need for energy efficiency projects, in the context where the Republic of Moldova currently consumes twice as much energy to maintain a square meter of building compared to the EU average.