The first step that should be taken for Moldova to have a functioning balancing market would be to couple it with the Romanian market, and this would create a more liquid, sustainable and competitive market, said Eugeniu Buzatu, acting general director of Energocom.
“To increase resilience in Moldova it is necessary to implement a healthy balancing market. From my point of view, the first and only step that should be taken is the coupling with the Romanian market. That is to have a single trading point, so that the markets interconnect, and in this way a balancing market in Moldova will emerge”, he said at the conference “Regional approach: Chisinau 2025”, organised by Energynomics.
To fully liberalise the market, either strong interconnection or domestic production capacity is needed. Without strong interconnection with neighbouring countries, it is difficult for foreign firms to invest in Moldova. But once this interconnection is in place, liberalisation could take place instantly and the market would organise itself. Energocom currently acts as an electricity aggregator. Basically, it buys all the electricity in Moldova and redistributes it nationwide. In 2021 and 2022, the Republic of Moldova faced a major crisis, caused both by the war in Ukraine and by the rising prices of natural gas and electricity on the European market.
“If we talk about increasing Moldova’s resilience, of course, without a strong interconnection with neighbouring countries, especially Ukraine and Romania, we cannot talk about energy security. Sufficient generation capacity is also needed to cover peak consumption,” he added.
Renewable energy is necessary but, paradoxically, there are times in the Republic of Moldova when solar production is so high that there is an excess of energy, even leading to negative prices on the stock exchange. Instead, peak consumption could be covered by installing small flexible power plants. At present, because of the conflict in Ukraine, Moldova can only rely on Romania and its own resources to cover its national energy consumption. However, it is necessary to build a new connection with Romania, such as the Balti-Suceava line, which would allow Moldova to increase its import capacity.
“I am sure that this project is already being worked on and will be realised in the near future,” Buzatu added.
The conference “Regional Approach Chisinau 2025” was organised by Energynomics with the support of our partners Elektra Renewable Support, Adrem Asset Management, Boglight Gaz Moldova, Siemens Energy, Simtel, SolaX Power, SolarToday.