The contract for the purchase of electrical energy with the Kuchurgan Power Plant will be extended for a month, not for a year as it was agreed earlier. Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spînu said that owing to the war in Ukraine, there is unpredictability as to gas supplies and the plant therefore refuses to sign the one-year extension contract, IPN reports.
Andrei Spînu, Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development, said that in March the Government will subsidize the cost of electrical energy produced by thermoelectric power plants (CETs) so as to cover their losses. This means the electricity tariffs will remain unchanged in March. By the end of this month, the National Agency for Energy Regulation will agree the new tariffs that will take effect on April 1.
“We had discussions with representatives of the Kuchurgan Power Plant so as to extend the contract for one more year. The war changed the situation and we will be able to extend the contract for one more month only, until May 1. The reason is the uncertainty related to gas supplies. The new tariffs will be approved before April 1 and the rise will not be significant. There are no reasons to double the tariffs. We will yet have discussions with representatives of the Kuchurgan Power Plant so as to see if we can return to the decision to extend the contract with the same tariff for a year, which was taken before the war,” Andrei Spînu stated in the talk show “The Fourth Estate” on N4 TV channel.
The Deputy Prime Minister noted that the first test to connect Moldova to the European electricity transmission system was performed this month. The start of the war accelerated this process and Moldova, alongside Ukraine, remained connected to the European electricity transmission network without doing additional tests.
“Under the national electricity strategy, the Republic of Moldova will to be connected to the European electricity transmission system. We can do this only together with Ukraine. 2022 is a testing year. The first test was performed in February and the next test was to be done in August. How are the tests done? The national system is disconnected from the Eastern system and is connected to the Western system. When this test was being performed, the war in Ukraine started and Ukraine decided not to connect back to the Eastern system (of Belarus and Russia) and asked the EU to ensure synchronization with the European system as a matter of urgency, without the August test. We made a similar request. The issue was examined by the Commission for Energy and this gave its consent,” said Andrei Spînu.
The Kuchurgan Power Plant satisfies 80% of Moldova’s electricity needs. In accordance with the contract, Chisinau purchases electrical energy at the price of 5.35 U.S. cents per kWh. The contract is valid until April 1, 2022.
