Local producers of electricity from renewable energy sources are dissatisfied with the authorities’ decision to allow bringing into the country only Aeolian installations newer than 36 months. According to them, such a provision hampers the development of the sector as the costs cannot be covered. Representatives of the Ministry of Energy said yet that the new Aeolian installations produce more power and allow recouping the investments during a shorter period of time, IPN reports.
The new amendments to the law on renewable energy allow holding tender contests for large capacities of electricity generated from renewable energy sources, such as photovoltaic parks and Aeolian parks. This way, the Government aims to increase the country’s energy security by producing local electricity, reducing imports and dependence on third sources, increasing private investments and reducing the greenhouse effects. The producers are dissatisfied with the fact that the law bans the importation of secondhand Aeolian installations as the new systems are extremely expensive.
“The given law envisions the promotion of renewable energy, but the new amendments do not promote, but stop this process. Since 2016, when this law was adopted, no investor has come to the Republic of Moldova to invest in a new Aeolian installation and to obtain an eligible charge. The new amendments do not bring clarity. No foreign investor will come to a market where the rules are not clear. Even if the goal of the amendments to the law is to institute mechanisms for all the producers, this does not actually happen. The regulations oblige to set up wind power stations newer than 36 months. Do you imagine what 36 months for a wind power station mean? So, we must install only new stations and, given their price, the investment recouping period will be very long as 1 KW will cost 4 lei, while the consumers do not afford to pay such a charge. That’s why we asked to allow importing secondhand installations. No one installed a new wind power station in the Republic of Moldova so far,” the head of the Association of Renewable Energy Producers Vitalie Malai stated in the program “Freedom Territory”.
For his part, the secretary of state of the Ministry of Energy Constantin Borosan said that photovoltaic or Aeolian installations with an increased wear degree cannot be brought into Moldova.
“The requirements regarding the importation of new installations are stipulated in the current formula of the law and we insist that they should be kept. How can we bring in installations that have been used for 20 years? The new technologies produce more KWs than the old technologies. I agree that the investment is large. However, if you can produce more electricity, the price of this electricity will be lower. There is a methodology for calculating the charge that was agreed by the NAER and this takes into account all the production costs. This methodology guarantees the recovery of investments,” stated Constantin Borosan.
The bill to amend the law on the promotion of renewable energy sources was published last week and was proposed for public consultations. According to the Ministry of Energy, the new amendments are designed to solve a part of the critical problems that hamper the development of the whole renewable energy sector, both as regards the production of electricity and the use of renewable energy in transport or for heating.
