Experts urge adjustments to Moldova's energy strategy

Moldova's Energy Strategy covering the period until 2020 is rather a list of aspirations than a document analyzing the situation and setting out the steps needed for development, stated Sandu Ghidirim, energy project coordinator at the World Bank's Office in Moldova, during a roundtable meeting at the end of last week, Info-Prim Neo reports. He thinks that some provisions of the strategy need a review, and steps in this regard have been taken lately. Ghidirim referred, in particular, to the elaboration of new laws on electricity and gas, prompted by the negotiations held by Moldova to join the Energy Community Treaty. The Government also drafted a set of measures to enhance energy efficiency, which has received approval from European Commission experts and now waits to be adopted. Ghidirim added that the government needs to review some of the targets included in the strategy, especially the target concerning the increase in the output of energy generated from renewable sources. This goal, commonly assumed in the energy strategies of the European countries, will be difficult to achieve. “The technologies of producing renewable energy are expensive, even for such countries as Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland, which have a great potential of renewable sources. Even they ask themselves if reaching this target is an achievable thing”, said Sandu Ghidirim. Concerning the traditional supplier of natural gas, the expert thinks it cannot be changed, at least in the foreseeable future. Therefore, Moldova in its capacity as transit territory for Russian gas, has to pay greater attention to this aspect. Studies containing recommendations are needed concerning the relationship with Gazprom. Victor Parlicov, IDIS expert, said Moldova needs to pay more attention to improving the business climate and enhancing investment attractiveness. This would enable it to attract foreign direct investment of over 1 billion euros in order to participate in a number of Europewide projects on the diversification of energy supplies or even on production of renewable energy. “Today, when investments are down, Moldova shouldn't stay idle but concentrate on improving energy efficiency. There is also a lot of work to do to reduce energy consumption per unit of production. There is much room for improvement in terms of energy efficiency in such areas as transportation, public utilities, and other fields”, stated Parlicov.