The Republic of Moldova encourages the development of electricity generation capacities from renewable sources, but they must be equipped with new equipment and must contribute to balancing the national energy system.
“We are not against renewables, but the way they are set up now and the fact that many of those on the market are second-hand, they do not meet the current requirements to maintain the stable operation of the system. Local energy generation can be a solution, but obviously with modern equipment that can ensure those quality parameters”, said Sergiu Aparatu, CEO of Moldelectrica SA, during the “Regional Approach Chișinău” conference organized by Energynomics.
In the first semester of this year, the number of requests to connect to the electrical transmission network in the country was similar to the full year level in each of the last two years, but the network is currently blocked. Although there are grid connection notices for a number of projects, in many cases they have registered “very small developments”.
Basically, the entire market is waiting for the Chisinau government to organize a series of tenders for awarding these contracts, so that investors have the guarantee that they will be able to recover their invested funds. According to Aparatu, the country would need system balancing capacities of around 200 MW.
At the same time, Moldelectrica SA has in progress several projects for the development of the network. One of these investments, valued at 10 million euros, aims at the reconstruction of four power stations. Another project involves the commissioning of 15 distribution stations. In addition, the company, which last year transported 4.2 billion kWh of electricity, also plans to develop the national electricity transmission system, an investment valued at 27 million euros.
According to Aparatu, the construction of the Balti-Suceava power line is crucial for the Republic of Moldova, and this investment amounts to 34 million euros. In addition, the modernization of the 110 kV networks requires another investment of 40 million euros.
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“For those interested, the balancing market is an opportunity in Moldova, because we do not have that resource that can ensure the balancing of the system and provide us with that reserve of power. The system services market is not yet launched either,” Aparatu said.
The conference “Regional Approach Chișinău” was organized by Energynomics with the support of our partners Huawei, Siemens Energy, Transgaz.