Facilitating investment in power generation capacity is one of the pillars of strengthening Moldova’s security, and no effort should be spared to achieve this goal, said Eugen Cozmulici, Policy & Advocacy Manager at the European Business Association of Moldova.
“The general sentiment of the business environment is positive. There is interest from investors to come and invest in the Republic of Moldova. With the advent of the Ministry of Energy, several processes have been dynamised, from the legislative framework to a greater openness on the part of the authorities and an increased awareness of the importance of energy security,” Cozmulici said at the conference “Regional approach: Chisinau 2025”, organised by Energynomics.
However, the process of unblocking grid connection permits for new renewable energy capacity has created some market turbulence. In the Republic of Moldova, the photovoltaic sector has developed rapidly and is now being followed by investments in wind power plants.
In light of recent developments in Spain, Cozmulici emphasises that precautionary measures are needed to prevent imbalances in the Moldovan energy market. These include the introduction of battery energy storage to avoid situations where renewable energy ends up being negatively priced, as has already happened in Romania.
“In order not to end up in the situation of selling renewable energy, theoretically, at negative prices, we should think about storage solutions or the Ministry of Energy should propose public policies that provide for concrete measures in this regard. Maybe even make a storage component compulsory for those who install photovoltaic and wind farms,” he added.
Moldova currently has the capacity to export over 80 MW of energy. However, there is a lack of balancing infrastructure, which calls for investment in a gas-fired power plant and possibly a pumped storage hydropower plant.
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.