Moldova needs to reform its energy sector in order to offset the lack of major internal resources. The projects supported and financed by the EU are implemented successfuly, reason for which some of them are extended with additional financing. The ways of modernizing the energy sector of the country include the integration into the European system, development of the national renewable sources of energy and improvement of energy efficiency. The issue was developed in a press club meeting entitled “EU assistance for Moldova in the energy sector – accomplishments, challenges and progress” that was staged by the EU Delegation to Moldova, IPN reports.
Marina Botezatu, director general of the Economy Ministry’s Department for Energy Security and Efficiency, said that among the Government’s priorities are to integrate Moldova into the European energy market, to diversify the sources of natural gas and to increase the share of renewable sources of energy.
“By our partnership, we want to modernize the country and to ensure better living standards for the people. This is impossible without speaking about energy,” said Alexandre Darras, project manager at the Energy and Transport Section of the EU Delegation to Moldova. The instruments used by the EU include technical assistance for improving the legal framework, small grants for private farms and enterprises, and significant financing for such major projects as the Iasi-Ungheni gas pipeline.
Through the agency of the SPSP Energy Project, Moldova benefitted from technical assistance to the value of €40 million in 2012-2014, achieving some of the best results in using the funds in the region (over 90%). As a result, it will benefit from an additional tranche of €10 million in 2015, if certain conditions are met. George Georgocostas, team leader within the project, underlined the importance of the reform in the energy sector of Moldova. According to him, energy efficiency can become the main source of the country.
One of the projects financed by the EU is the €15 million Energy and Biomass Project that was implemented in 2011-2014 and then extended until 2017, with additional financing of €9.5 million. Project manager Alexandru Ursul said that the biomass market in 2011 was almost inexistent and the project focused both on the development of the producers market and the consumers marker. As a result of the project, the biomass production rose to 100,000 tonnes a year. The CO2 emissions fell by 30,000 tonnes a year. There were created 350 workplaces, while 144 public institutions and 500 homes are now heated with biomass.
Overall, Moldova benefitted from eight EU-funded local, national and regional technical and financial assistance programs in the energy sector, receiving €7 million for building the Iasi-Ungheni gas pipeline and €10 million for extending it up to Chisinau, as well as €40 million for modernizing the transmission network of Moldelectrica.
