Moldova intends to increase share of alternative energy to 20% in 10 years
Making the best use of renewable energy resources should be a priority, since today Moldova relies mostly on gas imports for energy production, stated Ion Tighineanu, vice president of the Moldovan Academy of Sciences, at an international seminar as part of the See HydroPower Project, an initiative for South-East Europe that deals with hydroenergy production, Info-Prim Neo reports.
Tighineanu said that a governmental program is being implemented in Moldovan to exploit renewable energy sources. “At this point the sources of renewable energy account for only 5 to 6 per cent of the total. But we intend to follow the goals set by the EU on increasing the share of alternative energy production. So we plan to increase this share to 20 per cent by 2020”, Tighineanu said.
Academician Ion Bostan, the rector of the Moldova Technical University (MTU), who is also the coordinator of the governmental program, said the research center established by the MTU together with the Academy devised four micro-power stations for hydroenergy production and two types of wind turbines, as well as systems for conversion of solar energy intended for household consumers and anti-hail systems. “Our creations have no future if we do not get involved into international projects. Only international cooperation will help us solve the problem of the alternative energy use”, said Ion Bostan.
The seminar's participants said that Moldova has three thousand rivers with a total length of 16,000 kilometers. But their potential has not yet been fully studied and the legislative framework on alternative energy is poorly developed at this stage.