The Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environmental Partnership (E5P) will offer €3 million worth of grant in co-financing for the project to modernize the thermoelectric system of Balti municipality (SA CET-Nord). A trilateral agreement between Moldova, represented by the Ministry of Economy, SA CET-Nord and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which manages the E5P Fund, was signed for the purpose, IPN reports.
According to the Ministry of Economy’s press service, the grant supplements the loan of €7 million provided by the EBRD to SA CET-Nord in 2015. SA CET-Nord supplies heat to 75% of the population of Balti municipality and to a large number of public and commercial buildings. The signed document amends the financing agreement between Moldova and the EBRD that was signed in 2014 and ratified in 2015.
The project to the value of €10 million envisions the installation of three gas motors with the capacity of 4.4 MW each for generating simultaneously electricity and heat, modernization of the coal-fired thermal station so that it works based on biofuel, installation of 170 individual thermal points in apartment buildings, etc.
The modernization of the thermoelectric system in Balti is the first project in Moldova that benefits from financing from the E5P Fund, which the country joined recently. The E5P Fund merges contributions from the EU and donor countries, which are then used to leverage national funds and loans from international financial institutions. The Fund has a capacity of €180 million.
